Categories
Computers

You’ve got mail

InternetsComputer engineer and recent MIT graduate Ray Tomlinson, working on the nascent ARPAnet project, adds minor new features to an experimental file transfer protocol and, in so doing, sends the first network e-mail. This first message doesn’t have far to travel – it arrives at another computer terminal in the same room – but it is the beginning of e-mail on ARPANET, a feature which is adopted so widely and so quickly that it accounts for 75% of all ARPANET data traffic just two years later. Tomlinson is also credited for inventing the user@destination e-mail address format.

Categories
Doctor Who Television

Doctor Who: The Invisible Enemy, Part 2

Doctor WhoThe 459th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This episode introduces a character who becomes a major new addition to the show’s mythology, the robot dog K-9. With actor John Leeson lending his voice to the radio-control prop, it might seem as though Doctor Who is trying to steal some of Star Wars‘ droid mojo, but in fact the episode was filmed months before Star Wars premiered.

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Categories
Columbia Crewed Spaceflight Space Shuttle

Fuel spill delays Columbia’s second launch

ColumbiaThe second launch of Space Shuttle Columbia gets an unexpected one-month delay when a fuel leak forces NASA to remove, clean and re-attach 300 thermal tiles. The work can be done on-site, so Columbia simply stays on the pad. The second launch will be the last for the white external fuel tank, since NASA has determined that its brown insulating foam layer will cause no problems if left exposed; leaving off the coat of white paint saves several hundred pounds.

Categories
Television

Superboy: The Jewel Of Techacal

SuperboyThe first episode of the syndicated Alexander and Ilya Salkind-produced Superboy series, starring John Haymes Newton and Stacy Haiduk, premieres. The premiere episode is written by Fred Freiberger, the producer behind Beyond Westworld and the final seasons of Star Trek and Space: 1999.

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Categories
Pioneer Uncrewed Spaceflight

Farewell to Pioneer Venus

VenusThe Pioneer Venus Orbiter, launched into orbit around Venus in 1978 and now the only surviving component of the Pioneer Venus mission, enters the cloudy planet’s dense, toxic atmosphere and disintegrates, its fuel supply too exhausted to keep it in orbit any longer. Originally intended to orbit Venus for only a year, Pioneer Venus has survived, fully functional, for nearly 14 years in Venusian orbit, continuing to study the planet and taking readings not only Venus but such objects as Halley’s Comet.

Categories
Television

Young Indiana Jones And The Attack Of The Hawkmen

Young Indiana Jones ChroniclesThe feature-length 31st episode of George Lucas’ historical adventure series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles airs on cable channel The Family Channel, starring Sean Patrick Flanery. Anthony Daniels (Star Wars) and Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who) guest star; this is Pertwee’s last television appearance before his death in 1996.

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Television

Babylon 5: the movie(s)

Babylon 5Cable channel TNT, having already bought a package of reruns of Babylon 5 (airing in first run syndication as part of its ailing corporate sibling PTEN), begins negotiating with the producers of the series, initially for two made-for-TV movies continuing the Babylon 5 story and featuring the show’s current cast. Both movies are to be written by series creator J. Michael Straczynski, and will begin airing in 1998 alongside the nightly reruns of the series’ four completed seasons.

More about Babylon 5 in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Babylon 5 now streaming on Amazon Prime