Year: 2009

Categories
Kaguya Uncrewed Spaceflight

Farewell, Kaguya

  • June 10, 2009

KaguyaJapan’s unmanned Kaguya spacecraft, also known as SELENE, is intentionally crashed into the surface of Earth’s moon, which it has been orbiting and studying for nearly two years (twice its intended one-year operational lifetime). Having completed its observations and studies (as well as transmitting back to Earth high-definition camera views of the moon from orbit), Kaguya impacts near the crater Gill.

Categories
Science & Technology Uncrewed Spaceflight Weather & Climate

GOES-14

  • June 27, 2009

GOES-14NOAA’s GOES-14 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral into geosynchronous orbit to monitor weather patterns over the United States. It will be held in reserve until August 2012, when it will be activated to begin monitoring Tropical Storm Isaac as it closes in on the Gulf Coast, and it will redirected to monitor Hurricane Sandy’s approach and landfall on the east coast of the United States. In 2013 it will be moved to a position near the GOES-EAST geostationary position to cover the Atlantic Ocean and the east coast during one of GOES-13’s many technical outages. It remains in orbit on standby.

Categories
Television

Torchwood: Children Of Earth: Day One

  • July 6, 2009

TorchwoodBBC1 premieres the 27th episode of Russell T. Davies’ science fiction series Torchwood. Unlike previous seasons, this season – subtitled Children Of Earth – is only five episodes long, broadcast at a rate of one installment per night, with the implication that the story is unfolding more or less in real time. Peter Capaldi and Paul Copley guest star.

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Torchwood now streaming on HBO Max
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Categories
Television

Sci-Fi to Syfy

  • July 7, 2009

SyfyThe Sci-Fi Channel, launched in 1992, implements a major rebranding campaign, in the process renaming itself Syfy (a change that meets with some derision from the genre fan community). Unlike the generic term “sci-fi”, the new name can be copyrighted and marketed more aggressively. (Though the “Syfy” spelling was originated by a fan-run website called Syfy Portal, that site’s owners sold that brand earlier in the year, renaming their site Airlock Alpha in the process.) Along with the rebranding comes a somewhat more expansive view of what constitutes genre programming, with reality shows and sports programming (some of it shared with other cable channels under Comcast/Universal ownership) now, another move that meets with criticism and will be somewhat reduced over time.

Categories
Television

Torchwood: Children Of Earth: Day Two

  • July 7, 2009

TorchwoodBBC1 premieres the 28th episode of Russell T. Davies’ science fiction series Torchwood. Unlike previous seasons, this season – subtitled Children Of Earth – is only five episodes long, broadcast at a rate of one installment per night, with the implication that the story is unfolding more or less in real time. Peter Capaldi and Paul Copley guest star.

More about Torchwood in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Torchwood now streaming on HBO Max

Categories
Television

Torchwood: Children Of Earth: Day Three

  • July 8, 2009

TorchwoodBBC1 premieres the 29th episode of Russell T. Davies’ science fiction series Torchwood. Unlike previous seasons, this season – subtitled Children Of Earth – is only five episodes long, broadcast at a rate of one installment per night, with the implication that the story is unfolding more or less in real time. Peter Capaldi and Paul Copley guest star.

More about Torchwood in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Torchwood now streaming on HBO Max

Categories
Television

Torchwood: Children Of Earth: Day Four

  • July 9, 2009

TorchwoodBBC1 premieres the 30th episode of Russell T. Davies’ science fiction series Torchwood. Unlike previous seasons, this season – subtitled Children Of Earth – is only five episodes long, broadcast at a rate of one installment per night, with the implication that the story is unfolding more or less in real time. Peter Capaldi and Paul Copley guest star.

More about Torchwood in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Torchwood now streaming on HBO Max

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight Endeavour International Space Station Space Shuttle

STS-127

  • July 15, 2009

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Endeavour is launched on the 127th shuttle flight, a 16-day mission to the International Space Station to complete the Japanese-built Kibo laboratory facility. The installation of the final Kibo module requires five lengthy spacewalks. Aboard Endeavour for her 23rd flight are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Dave Wolf, Julie Payette and Tim Kopra; Kopra remains on the station, with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata returning to Earth on the shuttle.

Categories
Doctor Who Television

2009 Doctor Who Comic-Con exclusives

  • July 22, 2009

Doctor Who action figuresBritish toymaker Character Options and American distributor Underground Toys release a wave of exclusive Doctor Who action figures at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. This wave includes the first action figures ever made of the Doctor’s two earliest incarnations, as well as the first Cyberman design not from the current series. Rounding out the wave is the first action figure of any Doctor Who character in a costume specified by the Big Finish audio adventures.

More about Doctor Who toys in ToyBox

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight Discovery International Space Station Space Shuttle

STS-128

  • August 28, 2009

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 128th shuttle flight, a two-week mission to the International Space Station. Supplies and equipment are delivered to the space station in a cargo-bay-mounted logistics module. Aboard Discovery for her 37th flight are Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Kevin Ford, and mission specialists Jose Hernandez, Danny Olivas, Nicole Stott, Christer Fuglesang and Patrick Forrester. Stott remains on the International Space Station, while station crewmember Timothy Kopra returns to Earth aboard the shuttle.

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Soyuz

Soyuz TMA-16

  • September 30, 2009

Soyuz TMA-16Part of the 21st full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-16. Maksim Surayev and Jeffrey Williams take up residence on the ISS for 168 days, becoming part of the Expedition 21 crew. Joining them for the flight to the ISS is Canadian space tourist and Cirque de Soleil CEO Guy Laliberté, who visits the station for ten days before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-14 with members of the Expedition 19/20 crew. As with other space tourists before him, he pays for his own Soyuz seat and space training, but the impending retirement of the space shuttle fleet puts an end to Soyuz space tourism for several years after this flight.

Categories
Television

Dollhouse: Belonging

  • October 23, 2009

DollhouseThe 16th episode of Joss Whedon’s futuristic “spy-fi” series Dollhouse airs on Fox, starring Eliza Dushku. Keith Carradine (Madam Secretary) guest stars in an episode directed by Jonathan Frakes. With ratings for the series faltering, Fox pulls Dollhouse from the schedule just before the November ratings sweeps; by the time new episodes resume in December, the series has been cancelled, but the remaining episodes will be “burned off” in December and January.

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Dollhouse now streaming on Amazon Prime