Categories
Uncrewed Spaceflight Venera

Venera 3

Venera 1The Soviet Union launches Venera 3, its third attempt to send a spacecraft to Venus. Intended to land on the surface of what is still thought of as a near-twin of Earth, Venera 3’s landing capsule does indeed enter the Venusian atmosphere in March 1966, though the capsule loses contact with Earth and goes silent before ever hitting the surface of Venus. Venera 3 may be the first human-made object ever to arrive on another planet, but no telemetry exists to prove that it arrived in one piece.

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Apollo Crewed Spaceflight Skylab

Skylab 4

Skylab 4The third and final crew of the first American space station, Skylab 4, lifts off for an 84-day stay. The crew’s tasks include medical and biological experiments, solar observations (including the first space-based recording of solar flare origination), and observations of Comet Kohoutek. Crewmembers Gerald Carr, William Pogue and Edward Gibson have a frank discussion with ground controllers about their extremely busy work schedule (similar to heated discussions between Apollo 7’s crew and Houston) halfway through the nearly-three-month mission. Skylab is left powered down, but still habitable, at the end of the crew’s stay, in anticipation that future Space Shuttle crews will someday occupy Skylab.

Categories
Astronomy Communications Science & Technology

You’re listening to Earth FM

The Arecibo MessageThe first transmission from Earth designed to be a message for interstellar listeners is broadcast from the newly-refurbished Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. Weighing in at 210 bytes, the message is a binary transmission that, when properly assembled, provides a graphical representation of Earth’s solar system, a human being, the makeup of human DNA and the elements from which it is constructed, and the population of Earth. Though the Arecibo dish is pointed in the direction of the M13 globular cluster at the time of the message’s transmission, that cluster will have moved in the 25,000 years it takes for the message to reach that location (and, in any case, Earth and its entire solar system will have moved in the 25,000 additional years it would take to receive a reply), so the message is more of an interstellar technology demo than a message in a bottle.

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight Skylab Space Shuttle

Saving Skylab?

Skylab and ShuttleNASA and its contractors mull over a report outlining an ambitious (and, considering the continuous delays to the first launch of the Space Shuttle program, overly optimistic) plan to reactivate and occupy the Apollo-era space station Skylab for use by shuttle crews. The plan involves outfitting the ailing station with new solar power panels and equipment, and performing repairs to make it habitable for future astronauts. Despite the best-laid plans, however, the shuttle’s first launch comes after Skylab tumbles back through Earth’s atmosphere.

Categories
Television

Cosmos: Journeys In Space And Time

The eighth episode of Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking science documentary series Cosmos premieres on PBS. A popular history of science and scientific theory vs. tradition and superstition, segueing into Sagan’s field of expertise (astrophysics), Cosmos is a major milestone in American documentary filmmaking and the popularization of science and the scientific method (and makes an instant celebrity out of Sagan).

Categories
Television

Quantum Leap: The Great Spontini

Quantum LeapNBC airs the 38th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Amy Steel (Friday The 13th Part 2, The Powers Of Matthew Star) guest stars.

This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.

Categories
Television X-Files

The X-Files: Unusual Suspects

The X-FilesThe 100th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Richard Belzer guest stars as John Munch, his character from Homicide: Life On The Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, raising the unsettling (and perhaps unintentionally humorous) possibility of both shows existing in a shared universe with The X-Files.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.