Earl Green is the creator, curator, and head writer of theLogBook.com.
The third episode of Return To Jupiter airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Co-produced by ABC and Japanese network NHK, this children’s sci-fi series stars Sonia Todd (Home And Away) and David Wenham (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy).
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Renaissance Records releases Joined Like Notes, an album by Bill Mumy (Lost In Space, Babylon 5), including a song chronicling the further adventures of Mumy’s Lost In Space character. 
The sixth episode of the adult-themed science fiction anthology series Perversions Of Science, based largely on stories published in Weird Science magazine, premieres on cable network HBO. Elizabeth Berkley (Saved By The Bell, Showgirls) and Vincent Schiavelli (Ghost) guest star.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
During an attempt to manually redock a Progress unmanned supply capsule via remote control from space station Mir, Mir Commander Vasily Tsibliev misjudges Progress’ speed and distance, and the vehicle collides with the station’s Spektr module, breaching that module’s outer skin and allowing decompression to begin. As the hatch to that compartment is sealed off to save the rest of the station (and the crew’s lives), Mir begins tumbling in its orbit, losing power (and all contact with Earth) as its solar panels lose orientation to the sun. With only fleeting opportunities to contact ground controllers, the station’s crew of three has to use the thrusters of the Soyuz vehicle docked at Mir to realign the station and begin receiving solar power again, a process which takes 30 hours; they are unable to use the station’s rest room facility for over 48 hours due to the power loss. The Spektr module is never repaired and it remains sealed off for the remainder of Mir’s time in orbit; makeshift rewiring ensures that the solar panels not damaged in the collision return to service. Most of astronaut Michael Foale’s personal items and experiment data, stored in Spektr, are lost.
George Lucas films the first footage for the hotly-anticipated Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace at England’s Leavesden Film Studios, a facility that Lucasfilm has rented out for the duration of the movie’s expected long production period. By this point, even details of minor cast members have been leaked to the public, possibly making the production of Episode I the beginning of the modern age of internet spoilers. The cast includes Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Nataline Portman and Jake Lloyd, with veteran cast members such as Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker and Ian McDiarmid reprising their roles from the original trilogy. Cameras are expected to roll through September, with a 1999 release date already set.
Cable channel TNT announces that, in addition to ordering two made-for-TV movies continuing the story of syndicated science fiction series Babylon 5, it will be picking up the series for a full fifth season of new episodes. Additionally, work is underway on a sequel/”side story” set in the same universe, provisionally titled The Babylon Project: Crusade, which will also air on TNT. The series’ current cast, already locked down for the TV movies, is presumed to be returning for the fifth season. The first new episode produced will actually be seen in syndication as the final Babylon 5 episode aired on PTEN, since the final episode of the fourth season – always intended to be the very last episode of the series as a whole – will now be held back.
More about Babylon 5 in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Babylon 5 now streaming on Amazon Prime
NASA’s NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) unmanned spacecraft closes to within 750 miles of its first target, asteroid 253 Mathilde. Taking over 500 pictures of the asteroid and determining its mass and dimensions (roughly 31 miles in diameter). At the time of this flyby, Mathilde is the largest asteroid to be explored by a spacecraft. Discovered in 1885, Mathilde takes four years to orbit the sun within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. NEAR Shoemaker moves on to its next destination, asteroid 433 Eros, which it is expected to reach in 1998.
The fourth episode of Return To Jupiter airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Co-produced by ABC and Japanese network NHK, this children’s sci-fi series stars Sonia Todd (Home And Away) and David Wenham (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy).
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Dell Books releases the Babylon 5 novel “To Dream In The City Of Sorrows“, written by Kathryn M. Drennan (also writer of the first season B5 episode By Any Means Necessary). The book chronicles the life of Commander Sinclair following his departure from Babylon 5, his arrival on Minbar, and his eventual rise to the position of Entil’Zha – leader of the Rangers. The novel fills in many gaps left in Sinclair’s story on television, and is considered an official part of the show’s storyline.
Sony Records releases an album of songs from the movie Men In Black (the score from the movie will be available on a later separate release).
For the first and only time in the history of the American space program, a previously aborted mission is flown with the same vehicle, cargo and crew. Space Shuttle Columbia returns to orbit with Spacelab in its cargo bay for an attempt to fully carry out the aborted STS-83 mission, which was recalled to Earth in April. This time, the mission is successful, with nearly 16 days of microgravity experiments carried out by the crew. Flying Columbia – again – are Commander James Halsell, Pilot Susan Still, Payload Commander Janice Voss, mission specialists Donald Thomas and Michael Gernhardt, and payload specialists Roger Crouch and Greg Linteris.
The seventh episode of the adult-themed science fiction anthology series Perversions Of Science, based largely on stories published in Weird Science magazine, premieres on cable network HBO. Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl), Jamie Kennedy (Scream), and Harvey Korman guest star.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Using a never-before-attempted system of landing, the Mars Pathfinder unmanned probe employs an aerobraking maneuver to slow down in the planet’s atmosphere, and an all-encompassing layer of airbags to “bounce” onto the surface without using rockets to slow the vehicle down. The weighted landing station rolls to the correct orientation, deflates the airbags, and deploys on schedule, proving the merits of a landing technique that will deliver future Mars landers already in the planning stages. 
Sojourner, the original Mars rover, rides out on the Martian surface, getting close-up looks at nearby rocks and demonstrating technologies that are vital to upcoming Mars missions, including automatic hazard detection and avoidance. Sojourner’s ability to “see” obstacles and navigate around them without advice from ground controllers will be essential to later Mars rovers, since it takes seven minutes for a signal to reach Earth, and seven more minutes for instructions to return. The rover captures the public imagination and is even immortalized as a Hot Wheels toy.
The fifth episode of Return To Jupiter airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Co-produced by ABC and Japanese network NHK, this children’s sci-fi series stars Sonia Todd (Home And Away) and David Wenham (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy).
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The eighth episode of the adult-themed science fiction anthology series Perversions Of Science, based largely on stories published in Weird Science magazine, premieres on cable network HBO. Jennifer Hetrick, Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and Sean Astin guest star.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Actress Claudia Christian, having completed four seasons on the syndicated science fiction series Babylon 5, allows her contract to lapse prior to the start of production on the show’s fifth season (slated to air on cable channel TNT). Within days, rumors circulate on the internet that Christian has been fired from the show, touching off a fandom firestorm. The first scripts for the fifth season are revised accordingly to feature a new character, Captain Elizabeth Lochley, and actress Tracy Scoggins is cast as the new character within weeks. Christian’s appearances in the two upcoming Babylon 5 TV movies (set to premiere in 1998) and the final episode of the series itself (already filmed) are unaffected.
More about Babylon 5 in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Babylon 5 now streaming on Amazon Prime
Showtime airs the 60th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. David McCallum (The Man From UNCLE, The Invisible Man, Sapphire & Steel) guest stars in a remake of an episode from the 1960s Outer Limits series.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The sixth episode of Return To Jupiter airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Co-produced by ABC and Japanese network NHK, this children’s sci-fi series stars Sonia Todd (Home And Away) and David Wenham (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy).
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Highbridge Audio releases the audio drama Star Wars: Tales Of The Jedi: Dark Lords Of The Sith, based on the Tales Of The Jedi comic book story arc by Kevin J. Anderson and Tom Veitch.
The ninth episode of the adult-themed science fiction anthology series Perversions Of Science, based largely on stories published in Weird Science magazine, premieres on cable network HBO.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Namco releases the arcade compilation Namco Museum Volume 4 for the Sony Playstation, including the ’80s arcade games Pac-Land, Ordyne, and others. (The same title was released to the Japanese market the previous year, with the same lineup of games.)
The seventh episode of Return To Jupiter airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Co-produced by ABC and Japanese network NHK, this children’s sci-fi series stars Sonia Todd (Home And Away) and David Wenham (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy).
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Sci-Fi Channel (in the U.S.) and YTV (in Canada) premiere the first episode of the TV adaptation of Ken Catran’s young adult sci-fi novel Deepwater Black (broadcast in the U.S. under the title Mission Genesis), starring Nicole de Boer (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Dead Zone) and Gordon Michael Woolvett (Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda).
The tenth and final episode of the adult-themed science fiction anthology series Perversions Of Science, based largely on stories published in Weird Science magazine, premieres on cable network HBO. PAtrick Cassidy and Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch) guest star in an episode directed by Russell Mulcahy (Highlander).
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Showtime airs the 61st episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Alan Thicke guest stars in the third season finale.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
The eighth episode of Return To Jupiter airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Co-produced by ABC and Japanese network NHK, this children’s sci-fi series stars Sonia Todd (Home And Away) and David Wenham (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy).
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could join theLogBook team and write this guide or support the webmaster’s efforts to expand the site.
Pay cable channel Showtime premieres the first episode of Stargate SG-1, a television continuation of the hit 1995 science fiction movie Stargate. Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver) stars as Colonel Jack O’Neill (a role played in the movie by Kurt Russell). To make the series fit in with the cable channel’s other fare, there is nudity in the pilot, though that does not become a recurring feature of the series.
Sci-Fi Channel (in the U.S.) and YTV (in Canada) air the second episode of the TV adaptation of Ken Catran’s young adult sci-fi novel Deepwater Black (broadcast in the U.S. under the title Mission Genesis), starring Nicole de Boer (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Dead Zone) and Gordon Michael Woolvett (Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda).
Rhino releases The Very Best of Todd Rundgren, a collection of highlights from Rundgren’s solo career and from Utopia.