Categories
Television

Space Battleship Yamato

YamatoThe voyage of the World War II battleship-turned-space-cruiser begins with the colorfully-named premiere episode, S.O.S. Earth: Revive Space Battleship Yamato! The first episode of Space Battleship Yamato airs in Japan, though years later it will gain popularity in the English-speaking world as the translated, re-dubbed and heavily edited Star Blazers.

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Categories
Luna Uncrewed Spaceflight

Luna 23

Luna 23The Soviet Union launches the unmanned space probe Luna 23 toward the moon, intended to gather surface samples from the Mare Imbrium region for return to Earth. The sample collection hardware is unable to complete its task after landing, and ground controllers are only able to receive partial scientific data from the lander, whose batteries run out within three days of landing. It won’t be until 2012, when NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographs Luna 23’s landing site from orbit, that the truth will be learned: the lander tipped over on its side during a descent mishap, leaving it intact but unable to gather a soil sample.

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight Soyuz

Soyuz 16

Soyuz 16The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 16, a six-day manned space mission to test modifications to the Soyuz vehicle design ahead of 1975‘s Apollo-Soyuz Test Project international flight. Cosmonauts Anatoly Filipchenko and Nikolai Rukavishnikov test the new Soyuz docking mechanism and solar panels, and new rendezvous/docking equipment intended to assist with the Apollo-Soyuz flight as well as to prevent “wasted” missions such as Soyuz 15.