Gojira
The first Godzilla movie, Gojira, debuts in Japan. Directed by Ishiro Honda and starring Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi and Akihiko Hirata, the film is intended to be an allegory to the ravages of the atomic bomb rather than the beginning of a franchise (though the door is clearly left open to a sequel by dialogue at the close of the movie). The franchise proper will not begin until the first sequel five years later. In the meantime, an American dub of the movie attracts worldwide attention to Gojira, eventually rechristening the character Godzilla for much of the world.
The 12th episode of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man, based on Wells’ story, airs on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. on CBS. Lisa Daniely stars.
The second episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. The Cave Of Skulls is part two of 
British broadcaster ABC airs the 62nd episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman.
The 12th episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Jan Merlin guest stars.
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned space probe Zond 2, intended to conduct the first close flyby of the planet Mars. Interplanetary exploration is still in its infancy, however, and just as Zond 1 failed mere weeks away from Venus, communication is lost with Zond 2 three months prior to its planned August 1965 encounter with the red planet. A backup of this spacecraft, Zond 3, will be launched in 1965, also failing to reach Mars but instead returning photos of Earth’s moon.
The 40th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris.
The 
ABC broadcasts the 12th episode of the Filmation animated series Fantastic Voyage, based on the 
ABC airs the 37th episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. William Schallert guest stars.
ITV airs the tenth episode of the mystery/spy-fi series Strange Report in the U.K., starring Anthony Quayle, Kaz Garas, and Anneke Wills (Doctor Who). (The series is an international co-production and airs in the United States on NBC.)
The 13th episode of Filmation’s live-action Shazam! series airs on CBS, starring Jackson Bostwick, Michael Gray and Les Tremayne.
The 48th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. 
RCA Records releases 
The 20th episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim star. James Olson (The Andromeda Strain) guest stars.
The 
CBS Records releases an LP of selections from Jerry Goldsmith’s soundtrack from 
ITV airs the 31st episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. John Gielgud guest stars; this is the final episode in which Roald Dahl’s on-screen introduction is a regular fixture of the show.
The tenth 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).
ITV premieres the 
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Japanese video game maker Namco releases 
Sega releases the arcade game 
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The week-long national syndication window opens for 
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NBC airs the 39th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Josie Bissett (Melrose Place) and Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show, Batman: The Brave And The Bold) guest star.
The week-long national syndication window opens for 
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on its first flight in two years, an 11-day mission to conduct studies of Earth’s atmosphere with the ATLAS package mounted in the cargo bay. Aboard Atlantis for her 13th flight are Commander Donald McMonagle, Pilot Curtis Brown, Payload Commander Ellen Ochoa, and mission specialists Scott Parazynski, Joseph Tanner and Jean-Francois Clervoy.