The third episode of the science fiction sitcom Come Back, Mrs. Noah, created by the writing duo behind the perennial favorite Are You Being Served? and starring Mollie Sugden, is aired by the BBC.
Less than two years after arriving at Mars, the “mothership” orbiter that delivered the Viking 2 lander to the red planet is permanently shut down. Having lost most of its fuel to a leak, the Viking 2 orbiter can no longer be commanded to change orbit, and is placed in a parking orbit. Without an orbiter to relay its findings to, Viking 2 continues operating on the surface of Mars for two more years, sending data directly to Earth at a lower bit rate.
The fourth episode of the science fiction sitcom Come Back, Mrs. Noah, created by the writing duo behind the perennial favorite Are You Being Served? and starring Mollie Sugden, is aired by the BBC.
The fifth episode of the science fiction sitcom Come Back, Mrs. Noah, created by the writing duo behind the perennial favorite Are You Being Served? and starring Mollie Sugden, is aired by the BBC.
Trailing its supporting orbiter by several months, the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe – also known as Pioneer 13 – lifts off en route to deposit its payload of four atmospheric entry probes designed to measure the planet’s inhospitable, poisonous atmosphere. Following the launch of those probes, the Multiprobe carrier vehicle will then enter the atmosphere of Venus itself and take measurements, burning up before it ever reaches the surface.
The third in a series of three International Sun-Earth Explorer satellites, a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency, is launched aboard a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral. Unlike the other ISEE satellites, ISEE-3 is intended to take up a “halo” orbit at the L1 LaGrangian point between the sun and Earth, the first man-made space vehicle to do so. There it will study the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s own magnetosphere. Once its mission is completed in the early 1980s, it will be redirected and renamed to become the first Earth spacecraft to study a comet at close range.
The sixth and final episode of the science fiction sitcom Come Back, Mrs. Noah, created by the writing duo behind the perennial favorite Are You Being Served? and starring Mollie Sugden, is aired by the BBC.
The Soviet Union’s Soyuz 31 mission to the Salyut 6 space station lifts off, with cosmonauts Valery Bykovsky and Sigmund Jahn (the first East German space traveler) aboard. The crews are segregated less than on previous Interkosmos flights, and the Soyuz 31 crew is in space for over a week. They leave their vehicle at Salyut 6 and return in the Soyuz 29 vehicle on September 3rd.
The 480th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This is the first part of a season-long story arc – the first in Doctor Who’s history – involving the search for the Key to Time. This episode introduces Mary Tamm as Romana, a fellow Time Lord, as well as introducing the White Guardian to the Doctor Who mythos. Iain Cuthbertson (Children Of The Stones) and Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest star.
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The sixth episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond and Robert F. Simon. Ellen Bry (St. Elsewhere) joins the cast in the premiere of the series’ short second season.
The TV movie-of-the-week Dr. Strange premieres on CBS, starring Peter Hooten, Jessica Walter, Clyde Kusatsu, and John Mills. Intended to serve as the pilot for a series, Dr. Strange goes no further in the 1970s as a film or TV character; a big-screen live-action movie based on the same character will appear in 2016.
Voyager 1 emerges unharmed from what is considered the outer limit of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, having entered this 223,000,000-mile-wide zone of space in December 1977. Voyager 2 is expected to emerge similarly unscathed in late October 1978. NASA’s Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft had already demonstrated, in the early 1970s, that passage through the asteroid belt without mission-jeopardizing damage is possible. Both spacecraft are already imaging Jupiter from a distance of less than 180,000,000 miles, now meeting or exceeding the resolution of the best photos of Jupiter taken from Earth-based telescopes.
The 481st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. Iain Cuthbertson (Children Of The Stones) and Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest star.
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CBS airs the first episode of the Space Academy spinoff series Jason Of Star Command, starring Craig Littler, Sid Haig, and James Doohan (Star Trek). Though intended by Filmation to follow up on the previous year’s Space Academy series, there is very little crossover other than reuse of sets, props, and special effects shots. Jason shares a Saturday morning time slot with the animated show Tarzan And The Super 7, and emulates the feel of classic adventure movie serials.
The seventh episode of The Amazing Spider-Man airs on CBS, starring Nicholas Hammond, Robert F. Simon, Chip Fields and Ellen Bry. Nicolas Coster (Santa Barbara, The Bay) guest stars.
Cinematronics introduces the first vector graphics arcade game, Space Wars, designed and programmed by Larry Rosenthal, using Rosenthal’s “Vectorbeam” technology. The game is based on the 1960s mainframe game Spacewar!. The high-resolution vector graphics technology, which offers better graphics (at the cost of limiting them to black & white displays), becomes an arcade mainstay as other manufacturers such as Atari and Sega begin using similar displays.
Still stinging from the business decision to not bid on the Star Wars toy rights, toy maker Mego International is first in line to get the toy license for Walt Disney Studios’ upcoming $20,000,000 science fiction movie The Black Hole, still in pre-production. The license includes action figures and vehicles, and banking on Star Wars levels of popularity, Mego has its products ready to go even before the movie hits theaters in late 1979 (only to see the movie flop in the US).
The 482nd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. Iain Cuthbertson (Children Of The Stones) and Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest star.
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CBS airs the second episode of the Space Academy spinoff series Jason Of Star Command, starring Craig Littler, Sid Haig, and James Doohan (Star Trek).
The three-hour premiere movie kicking off Glen A. Larson’s science fiction series Battlestar Galactica airs on ABC… only to be interrupted by a live special report covering the ratification of the Camp David peace accords. The full movie is shown after the interruption, however, making its planned three-hour time slot a four-hour time slot. Despite this, the audience seems to stick with the show, the first major TV American science fiction series to try to venture into Star Wars territory.
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The 14th episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim star. Laurette Spang (Battlestar Galactica) guest stars in the second season premiere.
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The 36th episode of Wonder Woman airs on CBS, starring Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. Michael Lerner and Leif Garrett guest star in the third season opener.
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The 483rd episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. Iain Cuthbertson (Children Of The Stones) and Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999) guest star.
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CBS airs the third episode of the Space Academy spinoff series Jason Of Star Command, starring Craig Littler, Sid Haig, and James Doohan (Star Trek).
The second episode of Glen A. Larson’s science fiction series Battlestar Galactica airs on ABC. Part one of a two-part story, this is one of a handful of two-part episodes that hint toward Larson’s original preference toward occasional miniseries events rather than a weekly series. Jane Seymour guest stars.
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The 15th episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim star. Jared Martin (The Fantastic Journey, War Of The Worlds) guest stars.
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The 37th episode of Wonder Woman airs on CBS, starring Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. Lance LeGault guest stars.
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Wonder Woman now streaming on Amazon Prime
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The 484th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. This is the first Doctor Who script written by Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy). Bruce Purchase guest stars.
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CBS airs the fourth episode of the Space Academy spinoff series Jason Of Star Command, starring Craig Littler, Sid Haig, and James Doohan (Star Trek).
Atari releases the arcade game