Kolchak: The Vampire
ABC airs the fourth episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, based on the 1973 TV movie The Night Stalker and starring Darren McGavin. Larry Storch and William Daniels guest star.
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The Six Million Dollar Man: The Pal-Mir Escort
The 17th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. Anne Revere guest stars.
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Search: Moonrock
The fourth episode of Leslie Steven’s “spy-fi” series Search airs on NBC, starring Hugh O’Brian and Burgess Meredith. Jo Ann Pflug guest stars.
Star Trek: The Paradise Syndrome
The 58th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek airs on NBC. Sabrina Scharf guest stars as Miramanee; William Shatner is Kirok.
Lost In Space: The Space Primevals
The 64th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris. Arthur Batanides guest stars.
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Out Of The Unknown: No Place Like Earth
BBC2 premieres the first episode of a new science fiction anthology series, Out Of The Unknown, produced by former Out Of This World script editor (and protege of Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman) Irene Shubik. Adapted by Stanley Miller from a story by John Wyndham, the story stars Terence Morgan.
Luna 7
The Soviet Union launches unmanned space probe Luna 7 to land on the moon, having spent months analyzing the failed flights of Luna 5 and 6 and implementing safeguards against those failures. Unforuntately, however, a different technical problem strikes Luna 7 just hours away from the moon’s surface, preventing it from firing its braking rockets. Luna 7 does reach the moon, but not at a survivable speed, crashing into the surface very close to its intended landing site.
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea: The Mist Of Silence
The fourth 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. Rita Gam and Alejandro Rey guest star.
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Channel 37: all radio astronomy, all the time
The United States Federal Communications Commission places a ten-year hold on television station licenses for UHF channel 37. Channel 37’s bandwidth, in the 608-614 megahertz range, is vital to the burgeoning science of radio astronomy. The FCC immediately sets about reallocating channels on the UHF dial for 18 television stations across America, which had previously been allocated channel 37 on their licenses. One month later, the ban on broadcasting in that part of the spectrum is made global; no television station in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and several other countries will ever occupy those frequencies. When the ban comes up for review again in 1974, it will be made permanent, though a petition from radio astronomers to set aside channel 36 at that time will be denied.
The Twilight Zone: Steel
The 122nd episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Lee Marvin stars.
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One Step Beyond: The Death Waltz
ABC airs the 64th episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched) guest stars.
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Courier 1B
The U.S. Air Force launches the first active-relay communications satellite into orbit, Courier 1B (the original Courier 1 having been lost to a faulty launch vehicle earlier). Unlike the reflective Echo 1 satellite, Courier 1B uses power from the solar cells covering its spherical casing to reboost and retransmit the signals it receives from Earth. Once again, a message from President Eisenhower is transmitted, this time to be received by the United Nations. Clourier 1B remains functional for just over two weeks before a glitch renders it useless.
Luna 3: first look at the moon’s far side
The Soviet Union’s Luna 3 unmanned probe is launched toward the moon, where it transmits the first images of the moon’s far side back to Earth – a sight that has never been seen by humans before since the moon’s near side is tidally locked toward Earth. Luna 3’s closest pass to moon brings it to within 4,000 miles of the lunar surface, and despite low signal strength and data errors during transmission, nearly 20 images of the moon’s far side are sent back to Soviet scientists via a process not unlike sending a fax.
Sputnik ushers in the space age
The Soviet Union launches the world’s first artificial satellite, the short-lived Sputnik, which transmits a steady signal from orbit that can be tracked by radio. The reaction in the United States is one of alarmed paranoia, since the launch of an orbiting vehicle demonstrates technological capabilities in excess of what is needed to launch missles from the USSR toward American soil. Sputnik’s launch is the Soviet Union’s contribution to the International Geophysical Year, an international scientific event during which the United States has also promised to launch a satellite.