theLogBook.com is a chronicle of how we used to imagine the future – an ever-expanding
logbook of what our entertainment, our culture, and even our brightest minds thought would happen.
It’s nostalgia – and some real history – that gives factual context to the fiction, cultural
context to the factual, and always looks to the future.

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Published On: August 5, 2011

JunoNASA launches the unmanned Juno space probe on its way to Jupiter, on a trajectory that will accelerate the vehicle through a series of maneuvers, including a gravity assist pass of Earth, en route to Jupiter. Once it arrives at the solar system’s largest planet, Juno will enter a polar orbit to monitor the planet’s clouds and magnetic field over a period of one year beginning in 2016. Juno is solar-powered, without the customary nuclear power source that has been a feature of all previous outer solar system missions. Since it will spend time within the heaviest area of Jupiter’s magnetosphere, Juno’s components are built into a hexagonal structure which acts as a heavy-duty Faraday cage to block out the radiation trapped within Jupiter’s magnetic field.

Published On: August 5, 2002

WitchbladeThe 20th episode of Witchblade airs on cable channel TNT, based on the Top Cow comic book of the same name, starring Yancy Butler, David Chokachi and John Hensley. Victor Slezak (Blue Bloods, Treme, Hell On Wheels) guest stars. Read more

Published On: August 5, 1997

Soyuz TM-26Russia launches Soyuz TM-26 on a mission to the Mir space station, which suffered numerous major malfunctions and damage during its previous crew’s stay. Aboard the Soyuz are specially selected cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov, who have trained on the ground to inspect and repair the damage to the station, though they are unable to find the hull damage to the now-abandoned Spektr module which threatened to cause total decompression of the station. They do manage to restore most of Mir’s solar power generating capability during their 197-day stay, returning to Earth in February 1998 with French spationaut Léopold Eyharts.

Published On: August 5, 1969

Mariner 7The unmanned NASA/JPL space probe Mariner 7 makes its closest flyby of planet Mars, coming as close as just over 2100 miles from the Martian surface. Having recently suffered an inexplicable but temporary loss of communications with Earth (later determined to be caused by a leaky on-board battery), Mariner 7’s flight plan is reprogrammed just days out from Mars based on some of the more interesting findings of its sister ship, Mariner 6. The success of the tandem flight to Mars convinces NASA to adopt a similar mission profile for the upcoming Mars ’71 missions, which will send two Mariner orbiters to take up permanent positions around Mars.

Published On: August 5, 1963

Emergency Broadcast SystemsRadio and television stations across the United States begin mandatory participation in the national Emergency Broadcast System, a nationwide civil defense alert network replacing the CONELRAD system of the 1950s. Much like CONELRAD, EBS tests and activations initially require the rapid shutdown and reactivation of transmitters, at least until that practice is abolished in favor of a two-tone warning sound in the 1970s. Though the switch from CONELRAD to EBS is sparked by the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the EBS will later become more closely associated with severe weather warnings.

Absolutely no generative AI was used in the creation of the content on this website.
It’s mostly just some guy named Earl.

EG