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Television

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Babylon 5Warner Bros. Home Video releases the direct-to-DVD movie Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, a continuation of Babylon 5 written and directed by J. Michael Straczynski. Featuring original series stars Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggings, the movie is divided into two tangentially-related stories. Though initially promoted as the first of a series of direct-to-DVD Babylon 5 sequels, this proves to be the only volume of The Lost Tales when Straczynski decides to rest the Babylon 5 universe unless Warner greenlights a big-budget adaptation. This remains the final Babylon 5 project to date.

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Television

Masters Of Science Fiction: A Clean Escape

Masters Of Science FictionThe first episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series Masters Of Science Fiction, drawing on the genre’s literary greats and hosted by Professor Stephen Hawking, premieres. Judy Davis (Barton Fink, Naked Lunch) and Sam Waterston (Law & Order) star in Sam Egan’s adaptation of a John Kessel short story. Robert Moloney (K-9) guest stars.

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Crewed Spaceflight Endeavour International Space Station Space Shuttle

STS-118 puts a teacher in space

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 119th shuttle flight, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. Additional truss sections are delivered and installed at the station to support solar power arrays, along with the delivery of 5,000 pounds of supplies, consumables and experiments. Aboard Endeavour for her 20th flight are Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Charles Hobaugh, and mission specialists Richard Mastracchio, Dr. Dafydd Williams, Barbara Morgan, Dr. Tracy Caldwell and Benjamin Drew. Morgan is the first Teacher In Space, having been Christa McAuliffe’s backup in the 1980s, finally fulfilling the Teacher In Space program after 21 years.

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Television

Masters Of Science Fiction: The Awakening

Masters Of Science FictionThe second episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series Masters Of Science Fiction, drawing on the genre’s literary greats and hosted by Professor Stephen Hawking, is broadcast. Terry O’Quinn (Lost) stars in an adaptation of a Howard Fast short story. William B. Davis (The X-Files) guest stars.

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Television

Masters Of Science Fiction: Jerry Was A Man

Masters Of Science FictionThe third episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series Masters Of Science Fiction, drawing on the genre’s literary greats and hosted by Professor Stephen Hawking, is broadcast. Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Star Trek: Generations) and Anne Heche (Wag The Dog) star in an adaptation of a Robert A. Heinlein short story.

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Television

Masters Of Science Fiction: The Discarded

Masters Of Science FictionThe fourth episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series Masters Of Science Fiction, drawing on the genre’s literary greats and hosted by Professor Stephen Hawking, is broadcast. John Hurt (Alien, The Elephant Man, Doctor Who) and Brian Dennehy (First Blood, Cocoon) star in an adaptation of a Harlan Ellison short story. Alex Zahara (Jeremiah, Babylon 5: Legend Of The Rangers) and Ellison himself guest star; Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: First Contact) directs.

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Doctor Who Television

Even Time Lords need a break

Doctor WhoHoping to stem endless press speculation, the BBC announces that Doctor Who will be taking a rest for much of 2009, with four specials keeping the series on the schedule rather than a full season. Fueling much of the speculation is the Royal Shakespeare Company’s announcement that David Tennant has been cast in an extended engagement as Hamlet, a production which will be mounted throughout 2009. The BBC reassures fans that Tennant will continue in the role, and that a full season will be seen again in 2010.

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Kaguya Uncrewed Spaceflight

Kaguya lifts off

KaguyaThe Japanese space agency, JAXA, launches the unmanned SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) spacecraft to orbit Earth’s moon. SELENE is nicknamed Kaguya after a princess of the moon from Japanese folklore. Kaguya is scheduled to enter a polar lunar orbit in October, where it will conduct experiments in spectography, radio science, and charged particle and gamma ray detection. Though Kaguya has an on-board camera to map lunar terrain, the views for which it will become most famous will be shot by two HDTV cameras supplied by Japanese television network NHK, providing spectacular views of the lunar surface as they would be seen by an orbiting explorer.

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Dawn Uncrewed Spaceflight

Asteroid explorer Dawn lifts off

DawnNASA launches the unmanned Dawn spacecraft, a vehicle designed to explore the two largest bodies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn will also test a new charged ion propulsion system designed to improve on the performance of traditional chemical propellants (though its fine-tuning reaction control system will still use small engines powered by “rocket fuel”). Dawn is intended to visit and orbit the asteroid Vesta in 2011, which it will then depart after mapping to explore Ceres in 2015.

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Kaguya Uncrewed Spaceflight

Kaguya at the Moon

KaguyaJapan’s unmanned Kaguya spacecraft, also known as SELENE, enters a polar orbit around Earth’s moon with an average altitude of 62 miles. Billed by Japanese space agency JAXA as the most significant lunar mission since the Apollo era, Kaguya carries numerous science experiments, though the public is most captivated by video transmitted back to Earth from two on-board HDTV cameras supplied by television network NHK. Kaguya conducts accurate gravitational mapping of the far side of the moon for the first time, and its own terrain camera obtains high-resolution mapping data, which will later be shared with Google for an online 3-D map of the moon.