Soyuz TMA-22

Soyuz TMA-22Part of the 29th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-22. Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoli Ivanishin and Daniel Burbank take up residence on the ISS for 165 days, becoming part of the Expedition 29/30 crews. All three return to Earth in April 2012 aboard the same vehicle. This was the first Soyuz mission to the International Space Station following the end of the American space shuttle program.

Mars Science Laboratory launched

CuriosityThe Mars Science Laboratory mission is launched toward the red planet on an Atlas V rocket. The ambitious unmanned mission is intended to deposit a car-sized, nuclear-powered rover, nicknamed Curiosity, on the surface of Mars for an extended survey of the planet’s surface. Heavier than any of its predecessors, Curiosity will use an unprecedented means of slowing itself for descent, dangling from a “sky crane” for a soft touchdown after descending through the Martian atmosphere behind a protective heat shield.

Eureka: Do You See What I See

EurekaSyfy airs the 64th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica), and Jim Parons (Big Bang Theory) guest star in an animated Christmas special (and also the fourth season finale).

More about Eureka in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime

Doctor Who: The Five Companions

Doctor WhoBig Finish Productions releases a bonus Doctor Who audio drama starring Peter Davison. (This title was initially exclusive to Big Finish’s subscription program, as an incentive for those whose subscriptions included Army Of Death.) Read more

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (expanded soundtrack)

Star Trek IVSoundtrack specialty label Intrada Records releases a CD featuring Leonard Rosenman’s soundtrack from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The set includes the complete soundtrack (presented for the first time) as well as an alternate main title theme, never before released, that was not used in the movie itself. Read more

Dawn: getting closer to Vesta

Vesta from DawnNASA’s unmanned Dawn spacecraft, having completed its high-altitude mapping of the asteroid Vesta, drops to a lower altitude for more detailed mapping of Vesta’s surface. On average, its new orbit will allow Dawn to circle Vesta at an altitude of 130 miles, down from its previous 430-mile-high altitude. Dawn is imaging Vesta stereographically, allowing for precise measurements of surface features and the asteroid’s overall shape. In 2012, Dawn is scheduled to fire its ion thruster again, breaking orbit and leaving Vesta for a three-year cruise to the largest body in the asteroid belt, Ceres, arriving in 2015.