Paramount Pictures releases the George Pal-produced movie adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War Of The Worlds in American theaters, starring Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, and Les Tremayne. Featuring groundbreaking special effects photography and painted space scenes by Chesley Bonestell, the movie is an instant hit, and will later inspire a television revival based on elements of this film.

ITV airs the fifth episode of Ace Of Wands, starring Michael McKenzie, Tony Selby and Judy Loe. Vernon Dobtcheff guest stars. This episode, like the rest of the series’ first two seasons, is now missing from the archives.
The Soviet space program continues with the launch of Soyuz 15, carrying cosmonauts Lev Dyomin and Gennadi Sarafanov. This is intended to be the second crew to occupy the Salyut 3 military space station, but spacecraft systems intended to automate the rendezvous and docking process fail. After manual dockings are attempted, the Soyuz vehicle is running low on fuel and the crew is recalled to Earth after only two days. (Trying to dodge questions about the nature of Salyut 3’s mission objectives, Soviet space authorities later claim that Soyuz 15 was never going to dock with the station.) No further crews are sent to board Salyut 3.
The Soviet Union’s Soyuz 31 mission to the Salyut 6 space station lifts off, with cosmonauts Valery Bykovsky and Sigmund Jahn (the first East German space traveler) aboard. The crews are segregated less than on previous Interkosmos flights, and the Soyuz 31 crew is in space for over a week. They leave their vehicle at Salyut 6 and return in the Soyuz 29 vehicle on September 3rd.
The NASA/JPL unmanned space probe Voyager 2 makes its closest pass to the planet Saturn. Unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 does not make a close pass to the large moon Titan, and uses Saturn’s gravity to deflect it toward the planet Uranus, the first man-made spacecraft to aim for that planet. Problems with the aiming mechanism of the scan platform – the arm of the spacecraft containing Voyager’s camera and imaging systems – call the viability of a Uranus flyby into question for a short time, but the issue is resolved and workaround procedures are developed in the event of a recurring problem.
ITV airs the 30th episode of P.J. Hammond’s science fiction series Sapphire & Steel, starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley. Scheduling conflicts for the lead actors again keep the series off the air until the following year after this episode.
As scientists marvel over the latest data and pictures from Voyager 2 as it leaves Neptune, images of the planet’s large moon Triton prove to be jaw-dropping. Active geysers blast dark material – possibly evidence of cryovolcanism – over the moon’s mottled surface, and an atmosphere is measured. Virtually no craters caused by meteor impacts are spotted, meaning that Triton’s surface is geologically active – all completely new discoveries to Earth-based scientists. Perhaps the most frustrating part of all of the new information is that no further missions to Neptune are in serious consideration by NASA to follow up on Voyager 2’s discoveries.
Fox premieres
Showtime airs the 106th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs
Sci-Fi channel airs the
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 30th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Ever Carradine (Runaways, The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars.
American pay cable channel Starz airs the
Streaming service CBS All Access releases