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Crewed Spaceflight Mercury

Mercury 5: first American monkey in orbit

Enos!Prior to putting an astronaut in orbit, NASA launches a chimpanzee named Enos on a two-orbit Mercury flight to validate the survivability of the spacecraft for an extended flight. Enos is recalled to Earth when both his spacesuit and his Mercury capsule begins heating up unexpectedly, and attitude control is lost; after three hours and two orbits, Mercury 5 returns to Earth. While hauling the capsule from the ocean, recovery crews accidentally crack the window. Despite all this, Enos is safely returned home; he dies a year later from an illness not related to his orbital flight.

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Video Games

Pong

PongAtari releases its first product, the arcade game Pong. A more refined version of the basic video ping pong game introduced by the Magnavox Odyssey, it’s simpler than Nolan Bushnell’s earlier attempt to put video games in public spaces (the complicated Computer Space), and is an engineering trial-by-fire for its designer, engineer Al Alcorn. The game is implemented with analog logic rather than an expensive (at the time) microchip, and is a success, ushering in the coin-op video game era to stay.

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Franchises Television Twilight Zone

Twilight Zone: Episode 10

The Twilight ZoneCBS airs the tenth episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Jonathan Ward (Mac And Me) and Jeffrey Jones (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Bettlejuice) star in an episode comprised of three short stories, including one directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins).

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Television

Misfits Of Science: Steer Crazy

Misfits Of ScienceThe seventh episode of James D. Parriott’s lighthearted sci-fi series, Misfits Of Science, airs on NBC, starring Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall, and Courteney Cox. Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian) and Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years, From The Earth To The Moon) guest star.

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Doctor Who Television

Doctor Who: The Trial Of A Time Lord, Pt. 13

Doctor WhoThe 654th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Lynda Bellingham, Michael Jayston and Honor Blackman guest star; Anthony Ainley appears as the Master. This is Robert Holmes’ final Doctor Who script completed before his death, and the last episode of the season must be completed by other writers under trying circumstances, including the controversial sudden exit of current script editor Eric Saward.

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Television

The Flash: Shroud Of Death

The FlashThe eighth episode of the superhero series The Flash, based on the DC Comics character, airs on CBS, starring John Wesley Shipp and Amanda Pays. Walter Olkewicz (Wizards And Warriors) guest stars.

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Deaths Matters of Life & Death

George Harrison, Beatle, dies

George HarrisonThe “Quiet Beatle,” George Harrison, succumbs after a long battle with cancer at the age of 58. Renowned for writing numerous Beatles hits including “Something” and “Here Comes The Sun”, Harrison was also the first to launch a solo career by releasing the triple album All Things Must Pass within a year of the group’s split, consisting of numerous songs that hadn’t made the cut with the rest of the Fab Four, which immediately became a best seller. Harrison also founded Handmade Films to help his friends in the Monty Python troupe complete production of the controversial Biblical spoof Monty Python’s Life Of Brian (which had met with major studio opposition due to its subject matter); Handmade Films later turned out Time Bandits and other cult classics under Harrison’s guidance. At the time of his death, Harrison was said to be working on a new solo album.

Categories
New Horizons Uncrewed Spaceflight

New Horizons to Pluto

New HorizonsNASA announces that the New Horizons mission, proposed by a group of scientists and engineers from the cancelled Pluto-Kuiper Express mission, will go ahead to preparation, construction and launch sometime in 2006. Part of NASA’s new New Frontiers mission class, New Horizons promises significant scientific return from a never-before-explored region of the solar system while adhering to the “faster, better, cheaper” philosophy NASA has rallied around since the 1990s. Though this is the official green light for New Horizons to proceed, budget cutbacks at the Congressional level will threaten the mission for several years to come.