NEAR at Mathilde
NASA’s NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) unmanned spacecraft closes to within 750 miles of its first target, asteroid 253 Mathilde. Taking over 500 pictures of the asteroid and determining its mass and dimensions (roughly 31 miles in diameter). At the time of this flyby, Mathilde is the largest asteroid to be explored by a spacecraft. Discovered in 1885, Mathilde takes four years to orbit the sun within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. NEAR Shoemaker moves on to its next destination, asteroid 433 Eros, which it is expected to reach in 1998.
Babylon 5 rescued from cancellation
Cable channel TNT announces that, in addition to ordering two made-for-TV movies continuing the story of syndicated science fiction series Babylon 5, it will be picking up the series for a full fifth season of new episodes. Additionally, work is underway on a sequel/”side story” set in the same universe, provisionally titled The Babylon Project: Crusade, which will also air on TNT. The series’ current cast, already locked down for the TV movies, is presumed to be returning for the fifth season. The first new episode produced will actually be seen in syndication as the final Babylon 5 episode aired on PTEN, since the final episode of the fourth season – always intended to be the very last episode of the series as a whole – will now be held back.
More about Babylon 5 in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Babylon 5 now streaming on Amazon Prime