What Tomorrow Looked Like Yesterday…

Published On: April 28, 2021

Michael CollinsApollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, who remained in the command module Columbia in orbit of the moon while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, landed on the moon, dies at the age of 90 after battling cancer. Upon returning to Earth, Collins opted to retire from NASA and found work within the United States government, leading to his becoming the first director of the National Air & Space Museum, a facility which had yet to open at the time he took charge of it. Collins wrote a memoir, Carrying The Fire, in 1974, one of the earliest astronaut memoirs (and the first from a member of the crew charged with making the first lunar landing). Prior to Apollo 11, he had flown with John Young aboard Gemini 10, and prior to that had distinguished careers as both a fighter pilot and a test pilot. He applied for the second group of NASA astronauts, but didn’t make the cut until NASA was recruiting its third class.
Published On: April 28, 2020

The FlashThe CW airs the 130th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin. Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) guest stars.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Published On: April 28, 2016

HitomiJAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, declares the Hitomi X-ray astronomy satellite a total loss, having lost all contact with it. Though the diagnosis of the evidence to date is ongoing, engineers conclude from the available data that Hitomi entered an uncontrolled spin and broke up in orbit. JAXA offers apologies not only to other countries’ space agencies who supplied equipment for Hitomi, as well as to astronomers who had hoped to use the satellite.
Published On: April 28, 2015

Progress M-27MAn unmanned Progress cargo vehicle, designated Progress M-27M, is launched by Russia to ferry 6,000 pounds of supplies, equipment and experiments to the International Space Station. But Progress ends up in the wrong orbit, tumbling out of control, with Russian ground controllers unable to send remote commands to the vehicle. Plans to dock the Progress capsule to the ISS are called off as further attempts are made to regain control; since the Progress is in the wrong orbit, it poses no present danger to the station.
Published On: April 28, 2015

The FlashThe 20th episode of The Flash, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ superhero starring Grant Gustin, airs on the CW.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Published On: April 28, 2002

The X-FilesThe 198th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson, Robert Patrick, and Annabeth Gish. David Duchovny returns in an episode he also directed and co-wrote.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Published On: April 28, 2001

Soyuz TM-32Russia launches Soyuz TM-32 to the International Space Station. Aboard the Soyuz for an eight-day stay on the ISS are cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin, and multi-millionaire space tourist Dennis Tito, the first space traveler to buy his own seat aboard a spacecraft. NASA is less than thrilled with the presence of a “tourist” in space, and refuses to allow Tito to train in advance for activities in the American-built segments of the station. This crew returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-31.
Published On: April 28, 2000

The Outer LimitsShowtime airs the 118th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Laura Leighton (Melrose Place, Pretty Little Liars) guest stars.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Published On: April 28, 1996

The Outer LimitsPremium cable channel Showtime airs the 34th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of Leslie Stevens’ 1960s science fiction anthology series. Neil Patrick Harris (A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Starship Troopers) guest stars.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Published On: April 28, 1995

The X-FilesThe 46th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, and Mitch Pileggi. Charles Martin Smith (Starman, The Untouchables) and William B. Davis guest star.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Published On: April 28, 1995

VR.5The eighth episode of the science fiction series VR.5 airs on Fox, starring Lori Singer (Fame), Michael Easton (Total Recall 2070), and Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy The Vampire Slayer).

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Published On: April 28, 1995

The Outer LimitsPremium cable channel Showtime airs the sixth episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of Leslie Stevens’ 1960s science fiction anthology series. Thora Birch guest stars.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
Published On: April 28, 1991

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Discovery lifts off on an eight-day mission to delivery both classified and unclassified Defense Department payloads into Earth orbit. Aboard the shuttle for this flight are Commander Michael Coats, Pilot Blaine Hammond, and mission specialists Guion Bluford, Gregory Harbaugh, Richard Hieb, Donald McMonagle and Charles Veach.
Published On: April 28, 1988

Max HeadroomThe 12th episode of the American-made Max Headroom series premieres on ABC, starring Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays. (This is the the American-made drama series, not the music video/talk show series featuring the same character.) This is the final episode to air on ABC; two further episodes, Lost Tapes and Baby Grobags, aren’t seen until the series goes into reruns on cable years later.

More about Max Headroom in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Max Headroom now streaming on Amazon Prime
Published On: April 28, 1987

Making MagellanNASA has to borrow some of its own spare parts back from the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum to begin engineering mock-up work on the unmanned Venus radar mapping probe Magellan. As JPL works on modifications to a backup central bus component left over from the Voyager program, a physical copy of that bus from an engineering backup of the Voyager spacecraft is loaned back to JPL, shipped to Pasadena from Washington, D.C. (This loan saves JPL the trouble of building another replica of the bus, the central hub of the spacecraft containing its computer and electrical systems, which could add significant cost to the preparations.) The real Magellan, due to be launched soon after the currently grounded space shuttle program resumes, will cut costs by incorporating unused backup equipment from its predecessors, including a Voyager central bus and high-gain antenna, a medium-gain antenna spare from the Mariner missions to Mars, and a Galileo data handling system.
Published On: April 28, 1984

Robin Of SherwoodThe feature-length combination of the first two episodes of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Michael Praed and Nickolas Grace, and featuring a very modern musical treatment by Irish band Clannad. Infusing the familiar tale with elements of Pagan mythology, this proves to be one of the most enduring and influential takes on Robin Hood, and finds international popularity. (Repeats both in the UK and internationally will air the two parts of the story separately.)

More about Robin Of Sherwood in theLogBook.com Store
Robin Of Sherwood now streaming on Amazon Prime
Published On: April 28, 1983

GOES-6NOAA’s GOES-6 Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral into a geosynchronous orbit over 135 degrees west longitude on Earth, a position which will change several times over GOES-5’s career until 1988, allowing it to monitor weather over the continental United States and Europe. GOES-5’s primary set of “eyes” will fail in 1989, leaving GOES-7 as the sole working GOES weather satellite until the mid-1990s. Even while “blind”, GOES-5 will serve as a communications relay satellite until its boost to “graveyard” orbit and shutdown in 1992.
Published On: April 28, 1978

The Incredible HulkThe ninth episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk premieres on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno. Jennifer Darling (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) guest stars.

More about The Incredible Hulk in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
The Incredible Hulk now streaming on Amazon Prime
Published On: April 28, 1969

Space ShuttleNASA formally asks various major players in the aerospace industry for proposals for what the agency sees as its two major projects for the 1970s: an orbiting space station and a reusable Space Shuttle to make routine flights from Earth to the station – which NASA hopes will be a “50 man space base” – and back again, with supplies, experiments, and new crew members. (Within mere weeks, the hypothetical station’s equally hypothetical crew will be downsized to a dozen.) In the event that the development curve on the Space Shuttle proves to be a long one, NASA says it will keep Apollo and even Gemini spacecraft in service to make flights to the station.
Published On: April 28, 1961

'Way OutCBS broadcasts the fourth episode of the anthology series ‘Way Out, hosted by author Roald Dahl. Tim O’Connor (Buck Rogers In The 25th Century) stars.

This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.

Want to look up any other day of the year? Or just browse through any year covered on the site?