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: September 23, 2018

Gary KurtzGary Kurtz, producer of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back and George Lucas’ right-hand man during the making of both movies, dies at the age of 78 after a year-long battle with cancer. Kurtz was instrumental in the deal-making behind both Star Wars and its predecessor, Lucas’ American Graffiti, initially pitching both to Universal Studios. While Universal was eager to make American Graffiti, they passed on Star Wars, which was then pitched to 20th Century Fox. Kurtz was literally in the Death Star trenches helping Lucas complete the first film, directing many second-unit shots (including many of the X-Wing cockpit scenes from the movie’s climactic battle) and riding herd on the somewhat overburdened Industrial Light & Magic. Fundamental differences over the storytelling choices Lucas was making for Return Of The Jedi led Kurtz to distance himself from Lucasfilm, and he would go on to produce such films as The Dark Crystal, Return To Oz, and Slipstream.

Published On: September 23, 2008

EurekaSci-Fi Channel airs the 33rd episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, and Joe Morton. Ever Carradine (Runaways, The Handmaid’s Tale) guest stars. As a side-effect of the 2007-2008 Writers’ Guild strike, the series goes on an extended hiatus after this episode, not to return until the summer of 2009.

More about Eureka in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store

Published On: September 23, 1977

EnterpriseFor the third time, Space Shuttle Enterprise separates from the back of a Boeing 747 flying at nearly 25,000 feet above the dry lake bed landing strips at Edwards Air Force Base in California. With astronauts Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton aboard, Enterprise safely glides to her third safe landing at Edwards. This is the last of the test landings to leave the aerodynamic tail cone over Enterprise’s “anatomically correct” (but nonfunctional) main engines; the remaining Approach & Landing test flights will test the aerodynamics of an orbiter as it would return from space with those engines exposed.

Published On: September 23, 1976

Gemini ManNBC airs the first episode of Gemini Man, starring Ben Murphy and Katherine Crawford; William Sylvester takes over Richard Dysart’s role from the pilot movie, and Andrew Prine and country music artist Jim Stafford guest star. This episode becomes infamous for a later appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Read more

Published On: September 23, 1973

The Evil TouchThe second 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.) Mildred Natwick (Dangerous Liaisons) guest stars in an episode written by Sylvester Stallone.

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: September 23, 1966

SurveyorThree days after lifting off from Earth, NASA’s Surveyor 2 robotic probe is en route to the moon when all contact is lost. Thanks to an engine failure, Surveyor 2 is left tumbling out of control, and does eventually reach the moon, slamming into the lunar dust of Copernicus Crater at a leisurely speed of 6,000 miles per hour – perfect for traversing the distance between Earth and moon in a hurry, but not so good for landing intact.

Published On: September 23, 1958

LunaLess than a year after launching the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite, the Soviet Union makes its first attempt to launch an unmanned space vehicle toward the moon. The flight of Luna E-1 #1 lasts a mere 92 seconds before its launch vehicle explodes in mid-air. Further attempts will be made by Sergei Korolev’s team of engineers to launch a lunar spacecraft, giving the escalating international space race a new (if somewhat obvious) target for both unmanned and crewed space flights over the next decade.

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

EG