The 47th episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series, Tales Of Tomorrow, airs on ABC, starring Jackie Cooper.
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Implementing a revolutionary new take on an idea that has existed on paper since the 1940s, recently-hired Texas Instruments engineer Jack Kilby demonstrates the first fully-functional integrated circuit, with all of the electronic components encased in germanium. While the U.S. Air Force immediately places an order for TI’s new integrated circuits, other engineers continue to refine Kilby’s invention, with Fairchild Semiconductor producing ICs encased in silicon. The move to silicon for ICs leads to smaller electronic devices and the development of microcomputer technology.
Soviet space scientists and engineers score another first, launching Luna 2 toward the moon with the intention of a successful crash landing, with the unmanned vehicle sending back data until it is destroyed in the impact. With no engines of its own, Luna 2 is at the mercy of whatever trajectory is imparted to it by its booster rocket, ultimately taking a day and a half to slam into the lunar dust near the flat plain known as Mare Imbrium. A small metal sphere aboard Luna 2 bears the year and country of origin; a replica of that sphere is later presented to American President Eisenhower by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
The 42nd episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part six of the story now collectively known as The Reign Of Terror.
This episode completes the first season of Doctor Who.
This timeline entry leads to an entry covering this entire Doctor Who serial; there are plans to write new episodic entries in the future. You can support this effort!
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Gemini 11 lifts off on a three-day mission to continue validating rendezvous, docking and spacewalking techniques that will be needed on the upcoming Apollo lunar missions. With Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon aboard, Gemini 11 becomes the furthest manned object from Earth, using an Agena booster to push itself into a higher orbit that takes Gemini 850 miles away from Earth at its furthest point. After three days of docking, spacewalks and orbit-changing exercises, Gemini 11 returns to Earth.
The 19th episode of Larry Cohen’s science fiction series The Invaders, starring Roy Thinnes and produced by Quinn Martin’s QM Productions, is broadcast on ABC. Anne Francis (Forbidden Planet, Honey West) and Dabney Coleman (9 To 5, WarGames) guest star.
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The Soviet Union launches unmanned space probe Luna 16 toward the moon, the first success in the Soviet space program’s ongoing attempt to mount a robotic sample return mission. The lander’s drill-equipped sample collection arm gathers a 35 millimeter, 100-gram core sample of lunar soil, which is then packed into a shielded return capsule for direct return to Earth (seen here after landing). Now claiming that they advocate robotic sample return missions without putting human lives at risk, the Soviets can at last claim a lunar first – the first robotic return to Earth of a soil sample from another body in the solar system.
The seventh episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond, Robert F. Simon, Chip Fields and Ellen Bry. Nicolas Coster (Santa Barbara, The Bay) guest stars. 
The eighth episode of Star Blazers, an English rewrite and dub of the 1974 anime series Space Battleship Yamato, premieres in syndication across the U.S.
Midway releases the arcade video game Gorf, a collection of space-shoot-’em-up themed minigames with voice synthesis. The game started its development cycle as a licensed arcade game based on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
NBC premieres the first episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan (Transformers), Kathy Garver (Family Affair), and Frank Welker (Scooby-Doo, Transformers, The Smurfs). Keye Luke, Hans Conreid, and Anne Lockhart guest star.
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The second episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. under the title Fox Mystery Theatre. Deborah Raffin (7th Heaven) and David Langton (Upstairs, Downstairs) guest star.
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Four days after a party at Paramount Pictures to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original Star Trek, the studio sends Trek creator Gene Roddenberry a memo detailing its plans to restart Star Trek on television with a new cast. The studio is aware that a new Trek series has an even chance of succeeding or failing, and challenges Roddenberry to come up with a better idea than the studio’s in-house concept of putting the movie Enterprise in the hands of a team of Starfleet cadets (a concept Roddenberry greatly dislikes). Roddenberry pitches a different concept back to the studio, involving the crew of a starship Enterprise set further in the future than Captain Kirk’s era. With the pitch approved and a new contract in hand, Roddenberry begins recruiting fellow behind-the-scenes veterans of the original series to refine his ideas.
Julee Cruise‘s debut album Floating Into The Night is released on Warner Bros. Records, placating fans of the surprise hit TV series Twin Peaks (Cruise sings the show’s theme song). With lyrics by Twin Peaks auteur David Lynch and music by the show’s resident composer, Angelo Badalamenti, the album is strongly reminiscent of the series’ music; a proper Twin Peaks soundtrack album follows almost exactly a year later.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on a five-day mission to deliver the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) into a low Earth orbit, where the satellite spends over a year studying the outer layers of Earth’s atmosphere. UARS also focuses on study of Earth’s ozone layer. Other experiments are carried out aboard the orbiter by Commander John Creighton, Pilot Kenneth Reightler, , and mission specialists Mark Brown, Charles Gemar and James Buchli.
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 50th space shuttle mission (and its own first return flight to orbit). Carrying the Spacelab module in its cargo bay, Endeavour hosts the first Japanese shuttle astronaut and the first African-American woman in space. Over eight days, the crew performs various science experiments. Endeavour is flown by Commander Robert “Hoot” Gibson, Pilot Curtis Brown, Payload Commander Mark Lee, missions specialists Jan Davis, Jay Apt and Mae Jemison, and payload specialist Mamoru Mohri.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 57th shuttle mission, a nine-day stay in orbit to release a communications satellite and test a new second stage engine designed to push that satellite into geosynchronous orbit. A free-floating ultraviolet spectography experiment is released from the shuttle’s cargo bay and retrieved before the end of the mission, and spacewalking techniques for the upcoming Hubble Space Telescope repair mission are practiced. Aboard Discovery for her 17th flight are Commander Frank Culbertson Jr., Pilot William Readdy, and mission specialists James Newman, Daniel Bursch and Carl Walz.
The first episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman premieres on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Tracy Scoggins (Babylon 5), John Shea (Mutant X), and Persis Khambatta (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) guest star. This modern live-action take on the Superman mythos is developed by Deborah Joy LeVine (The Division).
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The 18th episode of RoboCop: The Series airs in syndication, starring Richard Eden, Yvette Nipar, Blu Mankuma, and Andrea Roth.
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The 23rd episode of the supernatural crime series Forever Knight airs in syndication, starring Geraint Wyn-Davies, Catherine Disher, Nigel Bennett, and John Kapelos. Sandi Ross guest stars in the second season premiere.
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The Red Hot Chili Peppers CD One Hot Minute is released, featuring the single “Aeroplane”.
The second episode of science fiction series Deadly Games is broadcast on UPN, starring James Calvert, Cynthia Gibb, and Chrstopher Lloyd (Taxi, Back To The Future); Leonard Nimoy serves as the series’ executive producer. Shirley Jones (The Partridge Family) guest stars.
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The first episode of Neil Gaiman and Lenny Henry’s modern-day fantasy series Neverwhere airs on BBC2, starring Gary Bakewell, Laura Fraser, Hywel Bennett, and Paterson Joseph. The series will later be adapted into a novel by Gaiman.
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Interplay releases a limited run of Ron Jones‘ soundtrack from the Interplay PC game Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. (A wide release, via Sonic Images, will be announced but cancelled in 1998.) This title is unrelated to the later TV series.
Pay cable channel Showtime premieres the seventh episode of Stargate SG-1. Armin Shimerman (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest stars.
The Japanese unmanned space probe Hayabusa arrives at its destination, asteroid 25143 Itokawa, from which it will gather a sample of material for return to Earth and attempt to deploy a mini-rover. Hayabusa settles into an orbit around the sun parallel to Itokawa, rather than orbiting the asteroid itself, and maintains an initial distance of roughly 12 miles.
Cordless Recordings releases ex-Jellyfish member Roger Joseph Manning Jr.’s debut solo album The Land Of Pure Imagination in the U.S. (a version of this album with a different track listing was released earlier in the year in Japan).
The third webisode of Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance, a serialized story set immediately prior to the third season of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica, premieres on the Sci-Fi Channel’s website.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the ninth episode of the quirky modern-day science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, Debrah Farentino, Joe Morton, and Matt Frewer. (In the UK and elsewhere, this series is retitled A Town Called Eureka.)
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ABC Records releases the album The View Is Worth The Climb by Tim Finn, featuring the signle “Going Going Gone”.