The Compact Disc
Following five years of research and development, Netherlands-based Philips Electronics demonstrates one of the earliest iterations of the compact audio disc, an optical disc in the now-familiar five-inch size which can be read by a CD player with a laser diode. Philips and Sony, who have been developing the new medium in parallel, will later join forces and create a standard for audio compact discs in 1980, introducing the CD as a consumer product in the early 1980s despite resistance from record companies with a vested interest in vinyl LPs (and only a begrudging acceptance of audio cassettes). In addition to higher audio fidelity and a more durable medium (an optical disc encased in a plastic shell, protecting the physical surface that is so often damaged with vinyl), the CD and its player can also compensate for any damage suffered by the disc through error correction.
JPL navigation engineer Linda Morabito, double-checking raw Voyager 1 images to ensure that the unmanned space probe is properly aligned for its encounter with Saturn in 1980, discovers the first evidence of active volcanoes on another body in Earth’s solar system: a plume of sulfur erupting over 150 feet above the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io. Scientists rush to check Voyager 1’s other Io images, and find that Voyager’s cameras caught more than half a dozen eruptions in the act.
The 53rd episode of Wonder Woman airs on CBS, starring Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. Donnelly Rhodes (Battlestar Galactica) guest stars.
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The seventh episode of the series Salvage 1 airs on ABC, starring Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins (Silver Spoons), and Trish Stewart. Richard Jaeckel (Spenser For Hire) and Barry Nelson (My Favorite Husband, The Shining) guest star.
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ITV premieres the first episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. José Ferrer and Cyril Luckham guest star.
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Ballantine Books publishes the first of a trilogy of original novels based on the Star Wars characters Han Solo and Chewbacca, 
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The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 33, intended to take cosmonauts Nikolai Rukavishnikov and Georgi Ivanov (the latter of whom is the first Bulgarian space traveler) to space station Salyut 6. But Soyuz 33 never reaches its destination. At a distance of 3,000 feet from Salyut, Soyuz 33’s main engine fails to fire – the first time such a failure has ever occurred in over a decade of Soyuz flights. Soyuz 33 is recalled to Earth at the earliest opportunity, leaving the station crew with no visits from any other human beings during their two-man, 175-day stay in orbit. It is later discovered that Soyuz 33’s engine could have exploded, causing critical damage to the entire vehicle – and ground controllers now focus their attention on Soyuz 32, docked at Salyut with an engine of identical design which could also fail.
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Random House publishes the Star Wars Question And Answer Book About Space, written by Dr. Dinah Moche. Cashing in on young Star Wars fans’ sudden fascination with space, the book explores many astronomical phenomena, and past, current and future spaceflight (as of 1979) and space science topics, framed within the context of the Star Wars universe.
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