Less than a year after launching the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite, the Soviet Union makes its first attempt to launch an unmanned space vehicle toward the moon. The flight of Luna E-1 #1 lasts a mere 92 seconds before its launch vehicle explodes in mid-air. Further attempts will be made by Sergei Korolev’s team of engineers to launch a lunar spacecraft, giving the escalating international space race a new (if somewhat obvious) target for both unmanned and crewed space flights over the next decade.
ABC airs the 
Three days after lifting off from Earth, NASA’s 
The third episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series The Time Tunnel airs on ABC, starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. Paul Fix, Whit Bissell, and Lee Meriwether geust star.
ABC broadcasts the third episode of the Filmation animated series Journey To The Center Of The Earth, very loosely based on the 
The 
ITV airs the ninth episode of Ace Of Wands, starring Michael McKenzie, Tony Selby and Judy Loe. Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) guest stars. This episode, like the rest of the series’ first two seasons, is now missing from the archives.
The second episode of Gerry Anderson’s live-action UFO series airs on ITV, starring Edward Bishop and Michael Billington. George Sewell and Jean Marsh (Doctor Who, Upstairs, Downstairs) guest star.
The 14th episode of The Sixth Sense airs on ABC, starring Gary Collins. Ed Nelson and Sharon Gless (Cagney & Lacey) guest star in the second season premiere.
The second episode of the horror anthology series The Evil Touch airs on Australia’s Nine Network, hosted by Anthony Quayle (Strange Report). (The series will later appear in the U.S. and elsewhere in first-run syndication.) Mildred Natwick (Dangerous Liaisons) guest stars in an episode written by Sylvester Stallone.
The 
For the third time, Space Shuttle Enterprise separates from the back of a Boeing 747 flying at nearly 25,000 feet above the dry lake bed landing strips at Edwards Air Force Base in California. With astronauts Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton aboard, Enterprise safely glides to her third safe landing at Edwards. This is the last of the test landings to leave the aerodynamic tail cone over Enterprise’s “anatomically correct” (but nonfunctional) main engines; the remaining Approach & Landing test flights will test the aerodynamics of an orbiter as it would return from space with those engines exposed.
CBS airs the 
The 
CBS airs the 
The 
The 
The week-long national syndication window opens for 
The 26th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.
The third episode of the science fiction series The Cape premieres in syndication in North America, starring Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law) and Adam Baldwin, and focusing on a fictionalized version of NASA’s shuttle program. 
Sci-Fi Channel airs 
Sci-Fi channel airs the 
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 33rd episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Ever Carradine (Runaways, The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars. As a side-effect of the 2007-2008 Writers’ Guild strike, the series goes on an extended hiatus after this episode, not to return until the summer of 2009.
Gary Kurtz, producer of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back and George Lucas’ right-hand man during the making of both movies, dies at the age of 78 after a year-long battle with cancer. Kurtz was instrumental in the deal-making behind both Star Wars and its predecessor, Lucas’ American Graffiti, initially pitching both to Universal Studios. While Universal was eager to make American Graffiti, they passed on Star Wars, which was then pitched to 20th Century Fox. Kurtz was literally in the Death Star trenches helping Lucas complete the first film, directing many second-unit shots (including many of the X-Wing cockpit scenes from the movie’s climactic battle) and riding herd on the somewhat overburdened Industrial Light & Magic. Fundamental differences over the storytelling choices Lucas was making for Return Of The Jedi led Kurtz to distance himself from Lucasfilm, and he would go on to produce such films as The Dark Crystal, Return To Oz, and Slipstream.