The 18th episode of the syndicated science fiction Science Fiction Theatre airs on stations across the U.S. Hosted by Truman Bradley, the episode stars Gene Barry.
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NASA launches its first interplanetary spacecraft, the unmanned space probe Mariner 2, en route to Venus. During its three-month trip from Earth to Venus, Mariner 2 takes measurements of solar wind, charged particles, and an experiment is included to measure the amount of dust and micrometeoroids between the two planets. The probe briefly loses attitude control several times in flight, but regains proper orientation in each instance.
With NASA anticipating ramping up its launch schedule to more than one shuttle flight per month to meet demand for the vehicle’s unique satellite deployment and retrieval capabilities, construction begins on the third orbiter intended for spaceflight, Space Shuttle Discovery. Construction and checking of the third shuttle takes almost exactly four years, with Discovery’s first liftoff about a year later.
Coleco releases the LED matrix-driven tabletop version of Donkey Kong in a colorful case with arcade artwork. The game play and graphics are somewhat lacking, but the mini-arcade games tend to sell well since they don’t require connection to the family TV. 
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on a mission to deliver three communications satellites to orbit. The triple payload includes SYNCOM IV-4, the Australian AUSSAT-1 satellite, and American Satellite Company’s ASC-1. Discovery is manned on this mission by Commander Joe Engle, Pilot Richard Covey, and mission specialists James van Hoften, John Lounge and William Fisher. The mission lasts one week, and Discovery is able to return home a day early after achieving mission objectives ahead of time.
Fox premieres the first episode of the sci-fi western, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., starring Bruce Campbell, Julius Carry, and Christian Clemenson. The series is created by Jeffrey Boam (The Lost Boys, Lethal Weapon, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade) and Carleton Cuse (Nash Bridges, Lost, Bates Motel, Locke & Key). Billy Drago (The Untouchables), John Astin (The Addams Family), and R. Lee Ermey guest star.
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BBC Radio 5 broadcasts the first episode of the five-part Doctor Who audio drama The Paradise Of Death, reuniting the early ’70s cast of Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, and Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier. Peter Miles, Maurice Denham, and Harold Innocent guest star in a story written by early ’70s Doctor Who showrunner Barry Letts. The heavily-promoted radio story marks 30 years of Doctor Who.
Westwood Studios and Electronic Arts release a CD of Frank Klepacki‘s soundtrack from the Westwood computer game Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun as a bonus with pre-ordered copies of the game.
Pay cable channel Showtime premieres the 53rd episode of Stargate SG-1. Erick Avari guest stars.
The movie-length pilot episode of Witchblade airs on cable channel TNT, based on the Top Cow comic book of the same name. Yancy Butler stars as NYPD officer Sara Pezzini, who happens upon an ancient relic of awesome power during a shootout. David Chokachi (Baywatch) also stars.
Nintendo releases Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance in North America (the game had already been released in Japan a month earlier. The game is essentially a Game Boy Advance port of the smash hit SNES game Super Mario Kart.
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The 161st episode of Stargate SG-1 airs on the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, and Christopher Judge.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the seventh episode of Stargate Atlantis. Colm Meaney (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest stars.
Syfy airs the 51st episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Debrah Farentino (Earth 2), James Callis (Battlestar Galactica), and Tembi Locke (Sliders) guest star.
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Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime
The 780th episode of Doctor Who (the 82nd since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Alex Kingston guest stars.
The first of a series of Doctor Who shorts, starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill, is made available on the BBC Red Button service. Five shorts in total are made available on a daily basis as a build-up to Asylum Of The Daleks.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft completes its first orbit of giant planet Jupiter with an orbit-shaping manever that takes it as close to Jupiter’s cloudtops as 2,600 miles – less than the width of the continental United States – at a speed of over 100,000 miles per hour. Juno obtains the first close-up views of the north and south poles of the planet, revealing a roiling hotbed of storm activity unlike the poles of relatively quiet Saturn. In addition to photos, Juno scans the planet in the infrared and ultraviolet portions of the spectrum. This is scheduled to be Juno’s closest flyby of its entire mission.
Streaming service CBS All Access releases the fourth episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, created by Mike McMahan (Rick & Morty) and starring Tawny Newsome (Space Force), Jack Quaid (The Boys), Noel Wells (Craig Of The Creek), Eugene Cordero (Other Space), Dawnn Lewis (A Different World, Futurama), and Jerry O’Connell (Sliders). Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) guest stars.