Month: February 1969

ESSA-9

ESSAThe recently-rechristened Environmental Sciences Service Administration launches, with the help of NASA, ESSA-9, the latest in a constellation of weather satellites. ESSA-9 is the last weather satellite to carry the ESSA designation, as the government reorganizes ESSA into a new agency, NOAA, the following year. ESSA-9 remains in service until 1972.

Out Of The Unknown: The Little Black Bag

Out Of The UnknownBBC2 airs the 34th episode of science fiction anthology series Out Of The Unknown. Adapted by Julian Bond from a story by C.M. Kornbluth, the story stars Emrys Jones and Geraldine Moffatt.

More about Out Of The Unknown in the LogBook

Mariner 6 launched

Mariner 6NASA and JPL launch the unmanned Mariner 6 space probe on a mission to Mars, where it will be joined by its yet-to-be-launched identical twin, Mariner 7. Mariner 6 will take five months to reach the red planet, with its slightly faster sister ship mere days behind it, and will fly past Mars twice as close as the planet’s previous unmanned visitors.

Land Of The Giants: Seven Little Indians

Land Of The GiantsABC airs the 19th episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. Kevin Hagan guest stars.

More about Land Of The Giants in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Land Of The Giants now streaming on Amazon Prime

N1 Flight #1

N1The gigantic Soviet-made N1 rocket, Sergei Korolev’s answer to the American Saturn V launcher, lifts off for the first time with an unmanned Zond spacecraft intended for a lunar flyby. Barely 70 seconds after leaving the pad, the N1 explodes at an altitude of seven miles, but the Zond space probe is salvaged by its escape tower rockets. The Soviet Union is no closer to safely sending a crew of cosmonauts to the moon.

The Enterprise runs aground

Star TrekNBC announces that it is dropping Star Trek from the fall 1969 network schedule. Having taken the show’s Friday night “death slot” as a sign of things to come, Gene Roddenberry has already begun seeking greener pastures, leaving the day-to-day showrunner duties to Fred Freiberger. Roddenberry also has no plans to manipulate fan protests against the cancellation this time (as he had done in 1967 and 1968); some NBC publicity and promotions executives are surprised when the seemingly inevitable backlash fails to materialize.

More about Star Trek in the LogBook

Land Of The Giants: Night Of Thrombeldinbar

Land Of The GiantsABC airs the 18th episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. Alfred Ryder guest stars.

More about Land Of The Giants in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Land Of The Giants now streaming on Amazon Prime

Star Trek: Requiem For Methuselah

Star TrekThe 74th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction series Star Trek airs on NBC. This episode sees Spock use a version of a Vulcan mind-meld on Kirk, urging him to “forget”; the later movies will reveal that this memory manipulation technique has an opposite number: “remember”…

More about Star Trek in the LogBook

Out Of The Unknown: Random Quest

Out Of The UnknownBBC2 airs the 31st episode of science fiction anthology series Out Of The Unknown. Adapted by Owen Holder from a story by John Wyndham, the story stars Keith Barron. This episode no longer exists in the BBC’s archives.

More about Out Of The Unknown in the LogBook

Out Of The Unknown: Something In The Cellar

Out Of The UnknownBBC2 airs the 30th episode of science fiction anthology series Out Of The Unknown. Written by Donald Bull, the story stars Milo O’Shea and Clive Morton. This episode no longer exists in the BBC’s archives.

More about Out Of The Unknown in the LogBook

Land Of The Giants: Deadly Lodestone

Land Of The GiantsABC airs the 17th episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. Paul Fix guest stars.

More about Land Of The Giants in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Land Of The Giants now streaming on Amazon Prime