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Deaths Matters of Life & Death

David Jackson, Blake’s 7 actor, dies

David Jackson as GanBritish actor and music hall performer David Jackson, best known to genre fans as Gan from Blake’s 7, dies of a heart attack at the age of 71. A veteran of the stage, film and many TV appearances (including two heavily-costumed roles in Space: 1999), he played the role of Gan for the first two seasons of Terry Nation’s space epic, only relinquishing the role when Nation decided that one of the characters needed to be killed off to lend the series some gritty reality. He was also an expert on Victorian theater and created a one-man stage show recreating the atmosphere of the Victorian music hall. He continued to appear at science fiction conventions and reunions of the Blake’s 7 cast as recently as 2004.

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Crewed Spaceflight Discovery Space Shuttle

STS-114

DiscoverySpace Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the first shuttle mission in over two years (and the first since the Columbia disaster) on a mission to resupply the International Space Station. Before docking at the station, Discovery performs the first Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, a shuttle somersault devised by mission planners to allow the space station crew to extensively photograph the shuttle’s thermal tiles to identify areas of concern. As it turns out, some tile repairs are conducted on this mission before the shuttle can return home. Aboard Discovery for this flight are Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot James Kelly, and mission specialists Charles Camarda, Wendy Lawrence, Soichi Noguchi, Stephen Robinson and Andrew Thomas.

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Hayabusa Uncrewed Spaceflight

Hayabusa at Itokawa

HayabusaThe Japanese unmanned space probe Hayabusa arrives at its destination, asteroid 25143 Itokawa, from which it will gather a sample of material for return to Earth and attempt to deploy a mini-rover. Hayabusa settles into an orbit around the sun parallel to Itokawa, rather than orbiting the asteroid itself, and maintains an initial distance of roughly 12 miles.

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Television

Battlestar Galacitca: Pegasus

Battlestar GalacticaSci-Fi channel airs the 23rd episode of Ronald D. Moore’s re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. Michelle Forbes guest stars. The Pegasus plotline is adapted from a two-part episode of the original Battlestar Galactica; this is the second season’s “mid-season finale.”

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Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Soyuz

Soyuz TMA-7 / ISS Expedition 12

Soyuz TMA-7The twelfth full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-7. Valery Tokarev and William McArthur take up residence on the ISS for 189 days. Arriving with them on the ISS for a nine-day stay is space tourist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen, who personally funded his own trip aboard the Soyuz and returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-6 with the Expedition 11 crew.

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Crewed Spaceflight Shenzhou

Shenzhou 6

Shenzhou 6China returns to Earth orbit with the launch of Shenzhou 6, which, unlike China’s previous manned space shot in 2003, is broadcast on live TV. Taikonauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng orbit Earth for five days. During this mission, the Shenzhou spacecraft displays a previously untested ability to change its orbit. According to some press accounts, the live broadcast of the launch – an unusual step for China’s space program – is accompanied by the sound of the original 1970s theme from Battlestar Galactica.

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Deaths Matters of Life & Death

Michael Piller, Star Trek producer, dies

Michael PillerTelevision writer and producer Michael Piller, credited by many for the success of the revived Star Trek franchise (and co-creator of spinoff series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager) dies at the age of 57 after a prolonged battle with cancer. Piller, who had previously been a producer on Simon & Simon and the SF series Probe, joined Star Trek: The Next Generation as the head of the writing staff for the third season in 1990, replacing Maurice Hurley. Piller was generally credited with bringing a more friendly vibe to the show’s writing sessions and with finding new talent, such as fan writer Ronald D. Moore. Piller also wrote the popular two-part episode The Best Of Both Worlds and many others, and went on to create Deep Space Nine with Rick Berman and Voyager with Berman and fellow Next Generation veteran Jeri Taylor. Piller created the short-lived series Legend for UPN, starring Richard Dean Anderson (pre-SG-1) and John de Lancie, and later formed a production company with his son Shawn, where he developed the recent version of The Dead Zone for TV, as well as ABC Family Channel’s Wildfire, starring DS9 alumnus Nana Visitor.

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Hayabusa Uncrewed Spaceflight

Hayabusa pulls up

HayabusaThe first attempt to maneuver the unmanned space probe Hayabusa close enough to scoop up a sample of material from the surface of asteroid 25143 Itokawa is aborted by ground controllers at the Japanese space agency, JAXA. The spacecraft’s navigational system finds it difficult to maintain a precise lock on the elongated asteroid, so its automatic safety systems abort the approach to preserve Hayabusa intact. Another attempt to bring Hayabusa close enough to gather material from Itokawa’s surface will be made a week later.

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Hayabusa Uncrewed Spaceflight

Hayabusa on Itokawa

HayabusaA second attempt is made by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency to bring its unmanned space probe, Hayabusa, close enough to gather a sample of surface material from asteroid 25143 Itokawa. It attempts to deploy a mini-rover called Minerva to explore Itokawa from the surface, but a glitch results in a trajectory that leaves Minerva tumbling into space, never to reach Itokawa. Hayabusa lands on Itokawa’s surface itself, though mission controllers don’t realize this for several more days. Contact is lost with Hayabusa for a short while, and when it is regained, the vehicle has left the surface and gone into safe mode.

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Doctor Who Television

Doctor Who: Children In Need Special

Doctor WhoDavid Tennant and Billie Piper star in a “special scene” written and filmed for the BBC’s Children In Need telethon. Not a spoof sketch, the short “mini-episode” bridges the gap between The Parting Of The Ways and the upcoming Christmas special, The Christmas Invasion. Though it can be considered an official part of the storyline, this is not considered a standalone episode of Doctor Who.

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