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Science & Technology Uncrewed Spaceflight Weather & Climate

TIROS-8

TIROSNASA and the United States Weather Bureau launch the eighth experimental TIROS weather satellite, TIROS-8. With TIROS-7 still fully operational, TIROS-8 expands coverage of Earth’s weather (including early detection and tracking of Hurricane Betsy, the first hurricane in American history to cause over $1,000,000,000 in damage) and tests new technology, including a high resolution, slow-scan imaging system. TIROS-8 is the second longest-lived of the early experimental TIROS satellites, remaining in service for three and a half years.

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Television

Thunderbirds: Vault Of Death

ThunderbirdsUK broadcaster ATV Midlands airs the 13th episode of Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation science fiction series Thunderbirds, featuring the voices of Shane Rimmer, David Graham, Sylvia Anderson, Ray Barrett, and Peter Dyneley.

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Television

Robert’s Robots: Santa Claus-Trophobia

Robert's RobotsThe 14th and final episode of the British comedy series Robert’s Robots airs on ITV licensee Thames Television, starring John Clive (A Clockwork Orange, Yellow Submarine) as eccentric inventor Robert Sommerby and Nigel Pegram as one of his robot creations. In addition to being the show’s Christmas special, this episode is also both a musical and the series finale.

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Television

Aquila: The Eagle’s Eyrie

AquilaThe seventh episode of children’s science fiction series Aquila premieres on BBC1, starring Ben Brooks and Craig Vye. The series is adapted by Andrew Norriss from his own novel of the same name. This episode brings the first season to a close.

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Crewed Spaceflight Deaths Matters of Life & Death Space Shuttle

Piers Sellers, astronaut, dies

Piers SellersBritish-born shuttle astronaut Piers Sellers dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61. A veteran of over 559 hours in space as a crew member of shuttle missions STS-112, STS-121 and STS-132, Sellers was trained as a meteorologist and did much of his research on climate change, eventually becoming NASA’s acting director of Earth sciences after retiring from flight duty.