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Crewed Spaceflight Gemini

Gemini 6

Gemini 6Delayed from its original launch date in October, Gemini 6 had been intended to be the first American space docking mission. An unmanned Agena rocket, launched ahead of Gemini 6 to serve as its docking target, had exploded during liftoff, and the October Gemini 6 mission had been scrubbed as a result. Instead, the crew of Gemini 6 – Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford – are launched on a one-day mission to become the rendezvous target for the already-launched Gemini 7. The two manned vehicles close to within mere feet of each other – a first for human spaceflight.

Categories
Astronomy Science & Technology

Janus

JanusFrench astronomer Audouin Dollfus discovers Janus, the tenth discovered natural satellite of the planet Saturn, orbiting just beyond the outer edge of Saturn’s ring. Confusion is caused when, mere days later, an American astronomer discovers another body in a near-identical orbit that cannot be reconciled with the orbit calculated for Janus. Only in the late 1970s will a theory emerge that explains the inconsistencies as the presence of two moons moving around Saturn as a co-orbital pair, occasionally swapping positions. Janus’ existence will be verified in 1980 by Voyager 1. (Janus is shown here in a 21st century Cassini photo.)

Categories
Science & Technology Uncrewed Spaceflight Weather & Climate

ESSA-8

ESSAThe recently-rechristened Environmental Sciences Service Administration launches, with the help of NASA, ESSA-8, the latest in a constellation of weather satellites operated by the former U.S. Weather Bureau. ESSA-8 is the first satellite in the ESSA constellation to boast a significant operational life span, watching Earth’s cloud patterns until it is shut down in 1976.

Categories
Television

Automan

Doctor WhoThe first episode of Glen A. Larson’s science fiction series Automan airs on ABC, starring Desi Arnaz Jr. and Chuck Wagner. Inspired by the 1982 movie Tron, Automan involves a hologram of an intelligent computer program who fights crime alongside a nerdy police computer technician. Patrick Macnee (The Avengers, Battlestar Galactica) and Sid Haig (Jason Of Star Command) guest star. The series lasts less than a full season.

More about Automan in the LogBook
Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast

Categories
Uncrewed Spaceflight Vega

Vega 1 launched

Vega 1The unmanned Vega 1 space probe is launched by the Soviet Union on a dual mission to drop off a lander at Venus and then to intercept Halley’s Comet in 1986. Derived from the USSR’s earlier Venera Venus landers, Vega will test a refined landing system for landing on Venus by balloon, and will then join an international fleet of unmanned spacecraft attempting to take advantage of Halley’s visit to the inner solar system in late 1985 and early 1986.

Categories
Television

Super Force: Gravity’s Rainbow – Part 1

Super ForceThe tenth episode of the science fiction crime drama Super Force is broadcast in syndication in North America, starring Ken Olandt, Larry B. Scott, and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers). G. Gordon Liddy (of Watergate fame, or perhaps infamy) guest stars.

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Categories
Television

Quantum Leap: Promised Land

Quantum LeapNBC airs the 84th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Elizabeth Dennehy (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest stars.

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