Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters star/writer, dies

Harold Ramis as EgonWriter, director and actor Harold Ramis dies after several years of battling vascular disease. An SCTV comedy veteran who went on to co-write Stripes, Animal House and Caddyshack, Ramis gained genre fame in 1984 for co-writing Ghostbusters, and starring in it as Dr. Egon Spengler, the brains of the ghostbusting operation. He did both again for the less successful Ghostbusters II in 1989, but went on to write and direct such films as Groundhog Day and Analyze This. Ramis was 69.

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Arrow: Time Of Death

ArrowThe 37th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) and Alex Kingston (Doctor Who) guest star.

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Alan Parsons Project: The Sicilian Defence

The Sicilian DefenceSony Legacy Records releases, as part of a career-spanning box set of the Alan Parsons Project discography, the previously-unreleased, all-instrumental 1979 album of demos titled The Sicilian Defence, named after a chess strategem. The album was originally submitted to Arista Records in the late ’70s in attempt to fulfill a contractual clause that would allow the band to seek another label. (The album will later be released on its own after the box set goes out of print.) Read more

Soyuz TMA-12M

Soyuz TMA-12MPart of the 39th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-12M. Aleksandr Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Steven Swanson take up residence on the ISS for 169 days, becoming part of the Expedition 39 and 40 crews. This crew returns to Earth in September 2014 aboard the same vehicle.

Arrow: Birds Of Prey

ArrowThe 40th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Jessica De Gouw (Dracula) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.

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Arrow: Deathstroke

ArrowThe 41st episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.

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Blake’s 7: Mirror

Blake's 7Big Finish Productions, under license from B7 Media, releases the fifth full-cast Blake’s 7 audio drama. Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow, Michael Keating, Jan Chappell, Sally Knyvette, and Brian Croucher reprise their roles from the television series’ second season. Read more

Arrow: The Man Under The Hood

ArrowThe 42nd episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.

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Dragon CRS-3

SpaceX DragonThe third SpaceX Dragon unmanned resupply mission to the International Space Station lifts off, testing a new version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster rocket which incorporates landing legs and an attitude control system designed to return the booster’s first stage safely to Earth for possible reuse. The attitude control system succeeds in cancelling out the booster’s roll and brings the first stage down for a controlled splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The Dragon capsule goes on to dock with the ISS two days later.

Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection

The Tressaurian IntersectionThe fan-produced Star Trek production Starship Exeter releases its second episode after a delay of several years; though filmed in 2004 (and partially released at the time), the complete episode has not been released until now. The episode is co-written by Dennis Russell Bailey, who also had a hand in writing the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Tin Man. Read more

Arrow: Streets Of Fire

ArrowThe 45th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. John Barrowman (Torchwood, Doctor Who) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.

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Blake’s 7: Cold Fury

Blake's 7Big Finish Productions, under license from B7 Media, releases the sixth full-cast Blake’s 7 audio drama. Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow, Michael Keating, Jan Chappell, Sally Knyvette, and Brian Croucher reprise their roles from the television series’ second season. Read more

Soyuz TMA-13M / ISS Expedition 40

SoyuzThe 122nd Soyuz vehicle launched, Soyuz TMA-13M, lifts off from Russia to the International Space Station, carrying the station’s 40th crew to its stay in orbit. Aboard are flight engineers Maksim Surayev, Greg Wiseman and Alexander Gerst; of the three, only Surayev has previous spaceflight experience, and he will become the ISS Commander upon the departure of Expedition 39. Expedition 40’s stay aboard the ISS is slated to last six months, and Soyuz TMA-13M will be used as a return vehicle by the crew of Expedition 41 later in 2014. Though Soyuz TMA-13M was intended to use the recently developed six-hour fast-track launch trajectory to reach the station the same day it launched, technical glitches delayed its arrival at the ISS until May 28th.

Dragon V2 unveiled

DragonSpaceX founder Elon Musk unveils the Dragon V2 manned spacecraft, an evolution of the unmanned Dragon capsules that have been ferrying cargo to the International Space Station. With room for seven astronauts and 3-D printed engines that can output 16,000 pounds of thrust, Dragon V2 is said to be fully reusable and should be capable of landing propulsively on land rather than splashing down in a body of water. While many of the vehicles impressive specifications are revealed, no announcements are made of when NASA might permit a manned test flight to the ISS, or how far along Dragon V2 is in meeting NASA’s exacting standards for manned spacecraft.

Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986

Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early YearsThe University of Nebraska Press publishes Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986, a comprehensive history of the development and early flights of the American Space Shuttle program written by David Hitt and Heather R. Smith. The book is part of University of Nebraska Press’ Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of Spaceflight series. Read more

Blake’s 7: Caged

Blake's 7Big Finish Productions, under license from B7 Media, releases the seventh full-cast Blake’s 7 audio drama. Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow, Michael Keating, Jan Chappell, Sally Knyvette, and Brian Croucher reprise their roles from the television series’ second season. This story wraps the first audio “season” of Blake’s 7 at Big Finish. Read more

Moving Buran

BuranOne of the last remaining prototypes of the Soviet-era Buran space shuttle is transported over land (and in pieces) from Gorky Park to an exhibition center in the center of Moscow to become part of an exhibit of Russian technological accomplishments. The unfinished Buran spaceframe had served numerous uses during its 30+ stay in Gorky Park, ranging from an impressive display piece to a diner (!).

Prelude To Axanar

Prelude To AxanarThe Star Trek fan production Prelude To Axanar is released to the internet as part of a crowdfunding campaign for a full-length Axanar project. The record-setting amount raised by the crowdfunding effort, as well as later Axanar merchandising efforts and questions about what is done with the funds raised, lead to a lawsuit and, later, CBS setting down much more restrictive rules for fan-generated Star Trek video content. Read more

Buck Rogers: Season Two soundtrack

Buck Rogers: Season TwoIntrada releases a 4-CD set of original episode scores from the second season of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, featuring music by Bruce Broughton, John Cacavas, Herbert Don Woods, and series theme composer Stu Phillips, among others. This marks the first release for any soundtrack material from the show’s second season. Read more

Doctor Who: Psychodrome

Doctor WhoThee audio drama box set Doctor Who: The Fifth Doctor Box Set, starring Peter Davison, is released by Big Finish, featuring the story Psychodrome. This set reunites the complete cast of Davison’s first season, including Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, and Matthew Waterhouse. Read more