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: October 14, 2021

Jupiter and Europa as seen by Hubble in August 2020NASA and ESA announce that spectrographic analysis of Hubble Space Telescope data gathered during observations of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa reveals that Europa has a persistent atmosphere of water vapor, but only on the hemisphere of the moon that is opposite of the direction of its orbital motion. (This unusual effect had been predicted in computer modeling, but had not been directly observed until now.) The atmosphere is present in Hubble spectroscopy data as old as 1999 and as recent as 2015. The stability of the water vapor in the atmosphere is the real surprise find, since surface-based water was assumed to be in solid ice form.

Published On: October 14, 2015

Star Wars: RebelsCable channel Disney XD premieres the 16th episode of the series Star Wars: Rebels, a CGI animated storyline falling between the original and prequel trilogies of the Star Wars saga. This episode picks up the second season and continues to build links between the Rebels animated series and its predecessor, The Clone Wars, by reintroducing the now-aged Clone Trooper nicknamed Rex (Dee Bradley Baker). Read more

Published On: October 14, 2004

Soyuz TMA-5The tenth full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-5. Salizhan Sharipov and Leroy Chiao take up residence on the ISS for 192 days. Arriving with them on the ISS for a nine-day stay is cosmonaut Yuri Shargin, who returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-4 with the Expedition 9 crew.

Published On: October 14, 1988

FantasyCBS Records releases the album Fantasy by German band Münchener Freiheit (shortened to “Freiheit” for the English-speaking world). Issued in a German language edition earlier in the year, this version of the album features English lyrics and a different arrangement of the band’s best-known single, “Keeping The Dream Alive”. Read more

Published On: October 14, 1984

Star Trek: Deep Space NineHBO premieres the made-for-TV movie Countdown To Looking Glass, starring Scott Glenn and Helen Shaver as reporters caught in the outbreak of World War III. In later years, when the movie becomes part of a movie package syndicated to local TV stations, it will accidentally cause panic among some of its audience. Read more

Published On: October 14, 1982

PooyanKonami introduces the arcade game Pooyan in the United States, turning the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf into a life-or-death video game struggle. Read more

Published On: October 14, 1978

Doctor WhoThe 486th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1, continuing the Key To Time storyline. This is the first Doctor Who script written by Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy). Bruce Purchase guest stars.

This timeline entry leads to an entry covering this entire Doctor Who serial; there are plans to write new episodic entries in the future. You can support this effort!
Order Earl Green’s book VWORP!1 from theLogBook.com Store

Published On: October 14, 1977

CombatAtari releases Combat for the Atari 2600. This is the pack-in game included with every console. Read more

Published On: October 14, 1977

Atari VCSThe Atari Video Computer System, model number CX2600, hits retail stores in the United States, primarily through a deal with Sears (which has a contractual right to repackage it as the Sears Video Arcade). Packaged with two joysticks, a pair of paddles, and the two-player-only tank game Combat, the VCS isn’t quite a runaway success, with only a quarter million units selling by Christmas 1977. Read more

Published On: October 14, 1976

Soyuz 23The Soviet Union’s Soyuz 23 mission lifts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, intended for a stay of up to three months at the Salyut 5 space station. A serious malfunction of the automatic rendezvous gear forces an abort of the docking with the station, and cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky are recalled to Earth, ending their orbit after just two days. But blizzard conditions near the landing site blow the Soyuz crew capsule off-course, resulting in the first-ever splashdown of the normally land-locked Soviet space program as Soyuz 23 plunges through the frozen surface of a lake. With their vehicle intact and functioning, the cosmonauts have to wait nine hours underwater for rescuers to bring the capsule to dry land.

Published On: October 14, 1973

The Evil TouchThe fifth episode of the horror anthology series The Evil Touch airs on Australia’s Nine Network, hosted by Anthony Quayle (Strange Report). (The series will later appear in the U.S. and elsewhere in first-run syndication.) Julie Harris (Knots Landing) guest stars.

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.

Published On: October 14, 1967

Doctor WhoThe 176th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is the first of two Troughton-era stories featuring the robotic Yeti. Jack Watling (the father of series regular Deborah Watling) guest stars. This episode is now missing from the BBC’s archives.

This timeline entry leads to an entry covering this entire Doctor Who serial; there are plans to write new episodic entries in the future. You can support this effort!
Order Earl Green’s book VWORP!1 from theLogBook.com Store

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

EG