The first attempt to launch an American satellite into orbit ends in fire, with the rocket failing to produce enough thrust to take off. The booster falls over and explodes on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, destroying the Vanguard TV-3 satellite, intended to be America’s contribution to the International Geophysical Year. The blame is later placed on the insistence of not using proven military rockets as launch vehicles.
NASA launches the Pioneer 3 space probe, intended – like its predecessors – to visit the vicinity of the moon. Designed to activate a television camera to get the first look at the moon’s far side, Pioneer 3 never reaches its target, only covering a third of the distance between Earth and the moon before it loops back toward Earth and burns up in the atmosphere a day later. Its near-identical twin, Pioneer 4, will be launched in 1959.
ABC airs the 72nd episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Peggy Ann Garner guest stars.
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The 130th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Ron Foster, Warren Oates, and Greg Morris star in an episode written by Serling.
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The 67th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek airs on NBC. Kathryn Hays guest stars in a role without any dialogue at all. 
The 13th and final episode of the TV spinoff of Planet Of The Apes, Up Above The World So High, premieres on CBS. (The network passes on an earlier episode, The Liberator, as being too controversial.) This concludes the live-action TV run of Planet Of The Apes.
ABC airs the ninth episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, based on Jeff Rice’s novel and the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin. Keenan Wynn and Richard Kiel guest star.
ABC airs the 14th episode of Sid & Marty Krofft’s The Lost Saucer, starring Jim Nabors (The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle USMC) and Ruth Buzzi (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In). Carole Mallory guest stars.
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The 416th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Ian Marter and John Levene guest star.
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The eighth episode of the science fiction series Man From Atlantis airs on NBC, starring Patrick Duffy and Belinda J. Montgomery. John Shea (Lois & Clark) and Ahna Capri (Enter The Dragon) guest star.
The 540th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This story, the second part of the E-space trilogy, introduces the “Time Lords vs. Vampires” mythos.
This timeline entry leads to an entry covering this entire Doctor Who serial; there are plans to write new episodic entries in the future. You can support this effort!
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The 13th and final episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Horror airs on ITV. Peter McEnery and Georgina Hale guest star.
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Mattel Electronics releases the Shark! Shark! cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system.
CBS airs the 11th episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Charles Martin Smith and Peter Riegert star in an episode comprised of two short stories, including an adaptation of Harlan Ellison’s short story One Life, Furnished In Early Poverty.
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The eighth 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. Sid Haig (Jason Of Star Command) and Greta Blackburn (V) guest star.
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The 655th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Lynda Bellingham, Michael Jayston and Honor Blackman guest star; Anthony Ainley appears as the Master. Though no one realizes it at the time of production, this is Colin Baker’s final appearance as the sixth Doctor before the BBC replaces him in the role. It’s also the final Time Lord story until well into the new series of the 21st century. The 23rd season of Doctor Who, and the trial storyline, concludes with this episode.
This timeline entry leads to an entry covering this entire Doctor Who serial; there are plans to write new episodic entries in the future. You can support this effort!
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UK regional broadcaster TVS airs the 13th and final episode of Richard Cooper’s alternate-history series Knights Of God, portraying a struggle between oppressive government and rugged resistance fighters in a post-civil-war UK. Michael Sheard (The Empire Strikes Back) guest stars.
Space Shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth from a classified four-day mission to deploy a payload for the Department of Defense, and on only the second flight since the Challenger disaster, most of Atlantis’ crew are surprised to return to Earth at all. During the mission, they note that Atlantis is missing numerous heat shield tiles along the vehicle’s right side and its wing – a post-landing damage survey counts over 700 missing tiles, making Atlantis the most-damaged orbiter to return safely from space. The damage had been pointed out to ground controllers by the crew, but when NASA asks permission from the Defense Department to allow the crew to send a live TV signal to Earth so engineers can survey the damage in orbit, that permission is refused. A slow-scan encrypted video system is used instead, and its low resolution doesn’t reveal the extent of the damage. The damage is believed to have been caused by insulation vibrating loose from the solid rocket booster and the external fuel tank and striking the shuttle during launch, an almost identical cause of damage that proves catastrophic to another shuttle 15 years later.
NBC airs the 18th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. John Cullum (Northern Exposure) and Paul Sand guest star.
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The 697th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Julian Holloway guest stars; Anthony Ainley makes his final appearance as the Master in the original series. This is the final episode of the original Doctor Who series, as the BBC quietly keeps the show off the schedule without making an announcement of the series’ cancellation. Doctor Who returns – with Sylvester McCoy briefly reprising his role – as a one-off TV movie in 1996, and then goes dormant again until revived in 2005.
This timeline entry leads to an entry covering this entire Doctor Who serial; there are plans to write new episodic entries in the future. You can support this effort!
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The first Star Trek film since 1982’s Star Trek II to be directed by Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country premieres in theaters, with Paramount billing it as the final appearance of the original crew. Depicting the earliest hints of a political alliance between the Federation and the Klingons, Star Trek VI is intended to hint at the future already playing out on TV on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and is preceded by a special two-part episode of that show featuring Leonard Nimoy. While some of the cast reprise their roles in later movies, TV episodes and even fan-made productions, this does mark the final appearance of DeForest Kelley in character as Dr. McCoy.
Fox airs the 33rd episode of Tracy Torme’s alternate-universe science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, John Rhys Davies, Sabrina Lloyd, and Cleavant Derricks. Robert Englund (V, A Nightmare On Elm Street) guest stars.
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The 122nd episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Michael McKean guest stars.
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Space Shuttle Endeavour joins the first two modules of the International Space Station together, having carried the Unity docking node into orbit in its cargo bay. With no living quarters or long-term life support facilities, the station is not yet ready for full-time occupancy; two further shuttle missions are required to prepare the station for its next major addition.
Fox airs the ninth episode of Joss Whedon’s science fiction series Firefly, starring Nathan Fillion.
Walt Disney Records releases Daft Punk’s soundtrack from the movie Tron Legacy.
Japan’s AKATSUKI unmanned space probe fires its thrusters to slow down enough to be captured into an orbit around Venus, a maneuver which will take place mostly in the planet’s shadow, out of communication with Earth. But when ground controllers reacquire communications with AKATSUKI, it is in safe mode, and not in its predicted orbit around Venus. The main orbital engine, damaged by overheating due to salt deposits on a fuel valve, fired for less than three minutes and cannot safely be fired again, leaving AKATSUKI into a solar orbit. Mission planners put AKATSUKI into a hibernation mode to preserve it for another opportunity to orbit Venus in 2015.
Syfy airs the 64th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica), and Jim Parons (Big Bang Theory) guest star in an animated Christmas special (and also the fourth season finale).
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The CW airs the 55th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. Mark Hamill (Star Wars) guest stars.
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Streaming service Disney+ premieres the the fifth episode of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, the first live-action TV series set in the Star Wars universe, starring Pedro Pascal. Amy Sedaris (Strangers With Candy) and Jake Cannavale (Nurse Jackie) guest star.