NASA and JPL launch the unmanned space probe Genesis to collect samples of the solar wind by exposing various materials from Earth to the solar wind and returning those materials to Earth – the first space mission to return samples from space since the Apollo moon missions – so the properties of the exposed samples can be compared to those of similar samples still on Earth. After nearly three years in deep space, Genesis will send a capsule loaded with these samples back to Earth, though its landing won’t exactly go as planned.
Pay cable channel Showtime airs the 94th episode of Stargate SG-1. Larry Drake (Darkman, L.A. Law) and Alex Zahara (Jeremiah) guest star.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 106th shuttle flight, a mission to exchange crews aboard the International Space Station. The shuttle’s cargo bay carries a logistics module containing more equipment for the ISS laboratory module, as well as storage racks to be installed elsewhere in the station. Aboard Discovery for her 30th flight are Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Frederick Sturckow, missions specialists Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester, and ISS Expedition 3 crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Turin and Vladimir Dezhurov, who remain aboard the station. Returning to Earth via Discovery are ISS Expedition 2 crewmembers Yury Usachev, James Voss and Susan Helms.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the 143rd episode of The Outer Limits. 
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Citing too many cooks in the kitchen, Majel Barrett Roddenberry bails out as executive producer of both Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda, two weekly syndicated shows spawned by unfinished scripts and outlines written by her late husband, Gene Roddenberry. Barrett joins many fans in voicing disapproval with the new direction of Earth: Final Conflict’s upcoming fifth season (which seems to be dispensing with a majority of series continuity). Her recurring character on Earth: Final Conflict, Dr. Belman, will make no further appearances.
It turns out that the “final season” of Stargate SG-1 isn’t quite so final. The Sci-Fi Channel picks the series up from Showtime for a new season of 22 episodes, set to begin filming in January 2002. Sci-Fi also announces plans to begin airing daily reruns of SG-1 starting in 2002, possibly to coincide with the broadcast of the new episodes. The deal to salvage the show is intended to give it one final season that it would have been denied by Showtime, though the eventual ratings will change the minds of Sci-Fi’s management.
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Big Finish Productions 
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Nintendo releases 
GNP Crescendo Records releases the soundtrack compilation The Best Of Stargate SG-1, gathering highlights from the first season of the sci-fi TV series. 
Oglio Records releases 
Epic Records releases 
Russia launches the Pirs docking module into orbit, where automatic systems allow it to rendezvous with the International Space Station for docking to the existing Zvezda module. The Pirs module adds a docking port for Soyuz capsules, as well as an airlock for future spacewalks.
MIT Press publishes Van Burnham’s non-fictional history of the video game industry and its products, “
Sonny’s Pop Records releases 
Big Finish Productions 
UPN debuts the newest Star Trek spinoff, the prequel series Enterprise, with a