Day: September 21, 2017

Endeavour retired

Space ShuttleNASA donates the retired Space Shuttle Endeavour, stripped of working engines and other vital equipment, to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The last shuttle to be built, construction on Endeavour began in 1988 from spare parts to replace the destroyed Challenger; Endeavour lifted off for the first time in 1992, ultimately flying 25 missions, including many of the International Space Station construction missions. This also marks the final flight of the modified Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, which flew for the first time in 1977.

Lost: Man of Science, Man of Faith

LostABC airs the 25th episode of the J.J. Abrams-produced series Lost. The second season premiere introduces Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond. Anson Mount (Inhumans, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) guest stars.

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Lost now streaming on Amazon Prime

Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy: Episode 13

Hitchhiker's Guide To The GalaxyThe 13th episode of the radio science fiction comedy series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is first broadcast on BBC Radio, beginning a radio adaptation of Douglas Adams’ novel Life, The Universe, And Everything and reuniting most of the original radio cast (though even the late Peter Jones is represented via brief clips from the 1970s radio series before being “rebooted” to the voice of actor William Franklyn). Adapted by Dirk Maggs, this is the first Hitchhiker’s Guide radio project undertaken after Adams’ death in 2001. Toby Longworth guest stars.

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Galileo’s mission ends

GalileoThe mission of the unmanned space probe Galileo ends in the clouds of the giant planet Jupiter, which it has orbited for eight years. Even as Galileo plunges toward Jupiter, it detects and reports evidence of a thin ring sharing the orbit of the small moon Amalthea, and then disintegrates as it falls into Jupiter. NASA has opted to send Galileo to its destruction, rather than risking a collision with Europa, which may harbor some of the ingredients necessary for life and might be contaminated if Galileo impacted it; Galileo’s mission was extended three times, with the vehicle lasting six years longer than anticipated in the original mission plan’s estimates, which included for the harsh radiation environment of Jupiter as a factor in expecting only a two-year mission.

Supercade

MIT Press publishes Van Burnham’s non-fictional history of the video game industry and its products, “Supercade“. Covering developments from Spacewar! and the Magnavox Odyssey through the Playstation era, “Supercade” is a coffee table book lavishly illustrated with emulator screen shots (and some surprisingly low-resolution digital photos and scans) and numerous essays by various authors on arcade and console games of note.

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Welcome To Paradox: The Extra

Welcome To ParadoxThe sixth episode of the Sci-Fi Channel original series Welcome To Paradox airs, a loosely-connected anthology of science fiction stories set in Betaville, a utopian future city whose incredible technology has frequently unintended side-effects. Rodney Rowland (Space: Above & Beyond) and Peter Williams (Stargate SG-1) star in a story co-written by SF author Greg Egan.

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Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Austria, March 1917

Young Indiana Jones ChroniclesThe seventh episode of George Lucas’ historical adventure series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles airs on ABC, starring Sean Patrick Flanery. Christopher Lee (The Satanic Rites Of Dracula, The Wicker Man, Star Wars Episode II) and Patrick Ryecart (A Bridge Too Far, Doctor Who) guest stars in the second season premiere.

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Doctor Who: Time And The Rani, Pt. 3

Doctor WhoThe 658th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. The 24th season also opens the era of the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. Kate O’Mara guest stars as the Rani.

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Doctor Who now streaming on Britbox

Mr. Do!

Mr. Do!Universal (a video game manufacturer unrelated to the Hollywood studio of the same name) introduces a cute arcade action game, Mr. Do!, casting players as a clown with a deadly weapon to use against underground monsters. Mr. Do! leads a revolution in the video game industry not with its game play, but with its form factor: it is sold as a conversion kit which can be plugged into a generic arcade cabinet, a concept which could potentially save arcade operators thousands of dollars by sparing them the expense of having to purchase an entire new machine to swap out games.

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Genesis: Abacab

Lindsey BuckinghamCharisma Records and Atlantic Records release the 11th album by Genesis, Abacab, featuring the singles “No Reply At All”, “Abacab” and “Man On The Corner”.

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Star Blazers: Episode 15

Star BlazersThe 15th episode of Star Blazers, an English rewrite and dub of the 1974 anime series Space Battleship Yamato, premieres in syndication across the U.S.

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Atari Home Computers

Atari 400Atari introduces the Atari 400 and Atari 800 home computers, one of the company’s first major product lines to show the imprint of Warner Communications. With only 8K of RAM (expandable to 16K), the Atari 400 (shown here) is intended to be more of a game machine, while the 48K Atari 800, with an actual keyboard, is intended to make inroads into the increasingly crowded home computer market. The same basic architecture, with significant modifications, will form the core of Atari’s next-generation video game console, the Atari 5200, which will be released in 1982.

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Project UFO Sighting 4015: The Underwater Incident

Project UFOThe 14th episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. Edward Winter and Caskey Swaim star. Laurette Spang (Battlestar Galactica) guest stars in the second season premiere.

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Six Million Dollar Man: The Return Of The Bionic Woman – Part 2

Six Million Dollar ManThe 37th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. Lindsay Wagner guest stars; her character will next return in the spinoff series, The Bionic Woman, in January 1976.

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Shazam!: Thou Shalt Not Kill

Shazam!The third episode of Filmation’s live-action Shazam! series airs on CBS, starring Jackson Bostwick, Michael Gray and Les Tremayne. Pamelyn Ferdin (Star Trek, Space Academy) guest stars.

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Land Of The Lost: Dopey

Land Of The LostThe third episode of Land Of The Lost premieres on NBC. This episode introduces the Marshall family’s recurring dinosaur friend Dopey, and is written by Margaret Armen (Star Trek: The Animated Series).

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Mariner 10, Mercury 2

Mercury by Mariner 10NASA’s unmanned space probe Mariner 10 makes its second pass of the planet Mercury, six months after its first flyby. This time Mariner passes under the planet’s south pole, getting the first views of that part of Mercury, but barely flying within 30,000 miles of the surface. Once again, following its encounter with Mercury, Mariner 10 slipped into a solar orbit that would bring it back to Mercury several months later.

Moody Blues: A Question Of Balance

A Question Of BalanceDecca Records releases the sixth album by the Moody Blues, A Question Of Balance, featuring the singles “Question” and “Melancholy Man”. Thanks to the band’s large following, the album – the second to be released by the band in 1970 – is an international bestseller.

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Strange Report: Report 5055: Cult – Murder Shrieks Out

Strange ReportThe first episode of the mystery/spy-fi series Strange Report premieres on ITV, starring Anthony Quayle, Kaz Garas, and Anneke Wills (Doctor Who). The series is an international co-production (and airs in the United States on NBC). Ed Bishop (UFO) guest stars.

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Land Of The Giants: The Mechanical Man

Land Of The GiantsABC airs the 27th episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. Broderick Crawford (Highway Patrol) guest stars in the second season premiere.

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Fantastic Voyage: The Menace From Space

Fantastic VoyageABC broadcasts the second episode of the Filmation animated series Fantastic Voyage, based on the 1966 movie of the same name. Marvin Miller, Ted Knight, and Jane Webb lead the voice cast.

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Lost In Space: Wild Adventure

Lost In SpaceThe 31st episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris.

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Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea: The City Beneath The Sea

Voyage To The Bottom Of The SeaThe second episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison, based on Allen’s 1961 movie of the same name. Hurd Hatfield guest stars.

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H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man: Crisis In The Desert

H.G. Wells' The Invisible ManThe second episode of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man, based on Wells’ story, premieres on ITV; the series will be shown later in the U.S. on CBS. Adrienne Corri (A Clockwork Orange) stars.

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