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Mariner Uncrewed Spaceflight

Mariner 4 to Mars

Mariner 4NASA attempts a second unmanned launch to Mars, successfully putting Mariner 4 on course for its nine-month cruise to the red planet. Intended to take the first-ever close-up pictures from the vicinity of another planet, Mariner 4’s main engineering objective is to simply survive the trip. The main problem encountered en route is a flaky star tracker (intended to lock onto specific stars and keep Mariner 4 in the correct orientation).

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Television

The Invaders: The Captive

The InvadersThe 30th 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. Dana Wynter (Invasion Of The Body Snatchers) guest stars.

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Movies Star Wars

The further adventures of Luke Skywalker

Star WarsA series of story conferences begin between Star Wars writer/director George Lucas and science fiction writer Leigh Brackett, the first work toward shaping the storyline for an anticipated (but still untitled) Star Wars sequel film. Lucas has brought Brackett on board to contribute new ideas, but she will only submit a first draft before succumbing to cancer. The conferences continue through early December; the eventual product of these early story meetings will be 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back.

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Movies Star Wars

The early bird gets an empty box

Star WarsCaught completely off-guard by the seemingly unstoppable runaway success of Star Wars, whose toy license it signed on for earlier in the year, toy manufacturer Kenner does something desperate and unprecedented: it sells a mostly-empty box (contents: the Force?) called the Star Wars Early Bird Kit, containing stickers, pictures, and a card to mail off to receive four figures – Luke, Princess Leia, R2-D2 and Chewbacca – by mail sometime between “February and May 1978.” The delay is needed to ramp up production on the figures, which will also be available at retail in 1978. To the surprise of everyone, including Kenner executive Bernard Loomis, who devised the Early Bird Kit, the result is a runaway sales success story.

More about Kenner Star Wars Toys in ToyBox

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Computers Science & Technology

Flight TE901

TE-901Air New Zealand Flight 901, a sightseeing flight making a round trip to Antarctica and then back to Auckland without landing, is lost with all hands when it crashes into the slopes of Mt. Erebus in Antarctica. Later investigations reveal that the flight crew and passengers were doomed by a typo made during autopilot data entry, switching the plane’s course from a low-altitude flyover of MacMurdo Sound to a low-altitude collision course with the mountain. (Also uncovered are the great lengths taken by Air New Zealand to accuse the crew of incompetence.) The steps taken to uncover the truth mark the birth of modern air disaster investigation, and the end of Antarctic sightseeing flights for at least a decade.

More about Flight 901 in Scribblings

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Columbia Crewed Spaceflight Space Shuttle

STS-9

ColumbiaReturning to space after nearly a year of refits, Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off on the long-delayed first manned mission of the Spacelab laboratory module, which is installed in the cargo bay. (The nearly month-long delay was the result of a solid rocket booster issue that led to the first-ever return of the shuttle from the launch pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building.) The ten-day mission also boasts the first six-person shuttle crew, featuring the first Spacelab scientists from the European Space Agency, who have been training for this mission since the 1970s. Columbia’s crew includes Commander John Young, Pilot Brewster Shaw, mission specialists Owen Garriott and Robert Parker, and ESA payload specialists Byron Lichtenberg and Ulf Merbold.

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Television X-Files

The X-Files: Millennium

The X-FilesThe 143rd episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Lance Henriksen guest stars as his character from the cancelled X-Files spinoff Millennium; this episode effectively serves as the finale for that show.

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Television

Dark Angel: Cold Comfort

Dark AngelThe seventh episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. John Savage guest stars.

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Television

Special Unit 2: The Wall

Special Unit 2UPN broadcasts the 14th episode of the supernatural crime comedy series Special Unit 2, starring Michael Landes (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman) and Alexondra Lee (Party Of Five). Kirby Morrow (Dragon Ball Z, Inuyasha) guest stars.

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