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Television

The Invaders: The Believers

The InvadersThe 31st 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. Carol Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure) guest stars.

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Atari VCS Video Games

Defender

Atari 2600Atari releases the home version of the arcade hit Defender as a cartridge for the Atari VCS home video game system. Though the game undergoes major alterations to fit within the VCS’ memory, Defender sells well. It includes the first issue of a tie-in comic book, Atari Force, created by DC Comics (a subsidiary of Warner Communications, just like Atari).

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Books

Doctor Who: Timewyrm: Revelation

Doctor WhoVirgin Publishing releases the fourth book in the Doctor Who New Adventures series, “Timewyrm: Revelation” by Paul Cornell. This is Cornell’s first professionally-published fiction, and is published over the objections of former Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner (acting as an advisor to the editors), who cites concerns over the book’s abstract attempts to establish an epic mythology involving Gallifreyan gods. The book also concludes the four-book Timewyrm cycle, which has proven to be enough of a sales success that Virgin opts to continue publishing original Doctor Who fiction.

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Television

Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Prague, August 1917

Young Indiana Jones ChroniclesThe 28th episode of George Lucas’ historical adventure series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles airs on ABC, starring Sean Patrick Flanery. Tim McInnerny (Blackadder), Nickolas Grace (Robin Of Sherwood), and Bernard Bresslaw (Doctor Who) guest star in the final episode to air on ABC. Lucasfilm will produce four feature-length TV movies for The Family Channel from 1994 through 1996.

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X-Files

The X-Files: Rush

The X-FilesThe 144th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Rodney Scott guest stars.

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Crewed Spaceflight Endeavour International Space Station Space Shuttle

STS-108 / ISS Expedition 4

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 107th shuttle flight, a resupply and crew rotation mission to the International Space Station. Aboard Endeavour for her 17th flight are Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, mission specialists Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani, and ISS Expedition 4 crewmembers Yuri Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch. Returning to Earth via Endeavour are ISS Expedition 3 crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Turin and Vladimir Dezhurov.

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Crewed Spaceflight Orion

Orion EFT-1

Orion EFT-1NASA launches Exploration Flight Test 1, the maiden unmanned voyage of the next-generation Orion space vehicle which is intended to assume the Space Shuttle’s place as NASA’s primary manned spacecraft. Heavily instrumented, Orion is boosted to a high altitude of 3,600 miles during its second orbit, and returns to Earth at 20,000mph, the fastest return of a man-rated spacecraft since the Apollo lunar missions. The flight profile of the EFT-1 mission is similar to that of 1967’s Apollo 4 mission, though ongoing budget constraints force NASA to launch Orion atop a Delta IV Heavy booster rather than the Space Launch System booster for which Orion has been designed. This budget crunch also prevents the Orion program from moving forward at the pace of Apollo: the next Orion flight will not take place for several years. Orion EFT-1 is also the first American spacecraft to be recovered from sea after a splashdown since 1975’s Apollo-Soyuz mission.

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Television

Mars: Power

MarsThe fourth episode of Mars airs on the National Geographic Channel. The series is a hybrid drama/documentary about a fictional human mission to Mars in 2033, contrasted against efforts to prepare for such a mission in the present day. The series is produced by Ron Howard (Apollo 13).

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Deaths Matters of Life & Death Star Trek

Robert Walker Jr., actor, dies

Robert Walker Jr. in Charlie XActor Robert Walker Jr., perhaps best known as the troubled Charlie Evans from the classic Star Trek episode Charlie X (1966), dies at the age of 79. The son of a Hollywood acting power couple, Walker was expected from an early age to follow in his father’s footsteps; even after his parents divorced, his new stepfather, David O. Selznick, was a guiding force in his career. Early attempts at movie breakout roles proved less than successful, but Walker made a huge impression on TV audiences, with memorable appearances on Star Trek, The Invaders, and The Time Tunnel in rapid succession; movie success did eventually follow in such films as 1969’s Easy Rider and 1972’s Beware! The Blob, but it was television that provided much of his work. Later TV appearances included guest roles on The Six Million Dollar Man, CHiPs, Dallas, In The Heat Of The Night, and L.A. Law.

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Hayabusa Uncrewed Spaceflight

Hayabusa-2’s samples return to Earth

Hayabusa-2 Samples RetrievedThe Japanese space agency, JAXA, successfully recovers the Hayabusa-2 space probe’s sample return container after its return to Earth in Austrailia. The container’s precious cargo is 100 milligrams of surface and subsurface material retrieved by Hayabusa-2 from the surface of asteroid 162173 Ryugu during a series of touch-and-go maneuvers performed between February and July of 2019. Though it drops its samples off during a close flyby of Earth, Hayabusa-2 remains in space, where JAXA hopes to redirect it to study further asteroids, though the probe will no longer have the ability to gather or return samples.