Operation Paperclip
President Truman, after months of weighing the pros and cons of offering amnesty to many of the German scientists involved in the V2 rocket program, signs off on Operation Paperclip, a project to repatriate those scientists to the United States. The initial estimate is that a thousand German scientists will be brought to the U.S., but over time the total will grow closer to 2,000, bringing well over 3,000 family members with them. Wernher von Braun and Hermann Oberth are among the scientists and engineers who accept the offer to work for the U.S., and their efforts, while they do have military value, will form the core of the nascent U.S. space program, with von Braun eventually designing the Saturn V rocket that will take future astronauts to the moon. The Soviet Union mounts a similar program in the weeks to come, attempting to repatriate German scientists and engineers to continue their rocketry research for the Soviets.
The 19th episode of the syndicated science fiction Science Fiction Theatre airs on stations across the U.S. Hosted by Truman Bradley, the episode stars Warren Steves and Phyllis Coates.
NASA’s Viking 2 lander, launched from Earth almost exactly a year earlier touches down on Martian soil in the Utopia Planitia region. One of Viking 2’s three landing legs comes down on a rock, leaving the entire lander at an eight-degree angle to the ground. Identical to Viking 1, Viking 2 has its own soil sampling arm, though its series of tests for biological reactions within the soil produce inconclusive results (including at least one “positive” test for signs of life, later attributed to inorganic chemical reactions). Viking 2 will also later confirm that water exists, at least briefly, on the surface of Mars in the form of frost.
The 
An English rewrite and dub of the 1974 anime series Space Battleship Yamato, titled 
ITV airs the 84th episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Richard Basehart guest stars in the sixth season finale.
Fox airs the second episode of the sci-fi western, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., starring Bruce Campbell, Julius Carry, and Christian Clemenson. Billy Drago (The Untouchables) and Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager) guest star.
Russia launches the Soyuz TM-22 mission to space station Mir, carrying cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Avdeyev from Russia, and Thomas Reiter from Germany. The three space travelers settle in for a 179-day stay aboard Mir, from which they will return early in 1996.
UPN airs the 
Showtime airs the 128th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Cicely Tyson, Robert Loggia, Hal Holbrook and Charlton Heston guest star in the sixth season finale. Showtime cancels the series, but it is picked up for a seventh and final season by the Sci-Fi Channel.
Hoping to stem endless press speculation, the BBC announces that Doctor Who will be taking a rest for much of 2009, with four specials keeping the series on the schedule rather than a full season. Fueling much of the speculation is the Royal Shakespeare Company’s announcement that David Tennant has been cast in an extended engagement as Hamlet, a production which will be mounted throughout 2009. The BBC reassures fans that Tennant will continue in the role, and that a full season will be seen again in 2010.