Due to higher-than-normal solar flare activity agitating and expanding Earth’s atmosphere, the fate of the Skylab space station is sealed: the space shuttle will not be ready in time to boost the station into a higher orbit to extend its operational life, despite significant research and development of a remote-controlled teleoperator retrieval system to help accomplish this task. All work toward salvaging the station is officially terminated by NASA. Skylab is predicted to re-enter the atmosphere at some point beginning in early 1979, with some worryingly heavy components likely to at least partially survive the heating of re-entry and reach the ground at high speed. Very briefly considered is a plan to fire missiles at the station, reducing it to smaller pieces more likely to burn up in the atmosphere, though this idea is swiftly rejected due to the likely of an uncontrolled area of debris that would create at least a limited instance of the Kessler Syndrome, posing a hazard to future space flights. Instead, flight controllers begin working on ways to achieve some control over where the 76,000+ kilogram station will impact Earth’s surface, hoping to steer clear of populated areas.
The 22nd episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim star. Pamelyn Ferdyn (Space Academy) and Whit Bissell (The Time Tunnel) guest star.
The 47th episode of Wonder Woman airs on CBS, starring Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. Peter Mark Richman (Electra Woman and Dyna Girl) guest stars.
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Atari releases the 
From a distance of 36 million miles, NASA/JPL’s unmanned spacecraft Voyager 1 can already see the planet Jupiter in far greater detail than the cameras aboard Pioneers 10 and 11. Over the next month, Voyager 1 records images as it closes in on its first planetary target, spotting roiling storm clouds and fluid cloud bands with unprecedented clarity; JPL assembles the images into a “movie.” Despite the size of Jupiter at the end of the sequence, Voyager 1 is still over a month away from its closest pass to the giant planet.
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BBC1 premieres the 
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BBC1 premieres the 
The 23rd episode of the live-action series based on Marvel’s comic The Incredible Hulk airs on CBS, starring Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, and Lou Ferrigno. Christine Belford guest stars.
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The pilot movie of the series Salvage 1 airs on ABC, starring Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins (Silver Spoons), and Trish Stewart. Richard Jaeckel (Spenser For Hire) guest stars. More of a modern-day action series than a science fiction series, the show concerns a home-grown salvage operation, complete with a privately owned rocket, that can retrieve pieces of American space hardware from the moon.
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BBC1 premieres the 
With a newly-awarded NASA contract in hand, Rockwell International begins the process of converting Space Shuttle Structural Test Article 099 into the Orbiter Vehicle 099, later to be christened Space Shuttle Challenger. A process originally envisioned for the test vehicle Enterprise, it is deemed more cost-effective and faster to upgrade STA-099 into OV-099. The first order of business is the construction of a new crew module, since the corresponding section of STA-099 was never actually intended to house human beings.
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BBC1 premieres the