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This Week in Sci-Fi History

Science fiction is the blood that fuels the heart of the Internet, so let’s take a few moments to once again reflect on the people, places, things, or events that make this blood so unique and so worthy of celebration.

June 4

On this day in 1954, test pilot Arthur Murray flew the X-1A rocket plane to a record 27,000 meters, being the first man to observe the curvature of the Earth. Syfy’s Baltar from the “Battlestar Galactica” redux – actor James Callis – was born on this day in 1971.

June 5


On this day in 1661, Isaac Newton was admitted as a student to Trinity College in Cambridge. Today’s auspicious birthdays include Kathleen Kennedy (1953), recently named to co-chair Lucasfilm, and Mark Wahlberg (1971), the man who destroyed our childhood with director Tim Burton by going back to the PLANET OF THE APES.

June 6, 2012

It’s made the rounds everywhere, but I couldn’t pass up mentioning June 6th this year marked the demise of the legendary author Ray Bradbury. “Fahrenheit 451” and “The Martian Chronicles” are two of my favorite classics. Auspicious birthdays include Gary Graham (1950), a man to grace more sci-fi franchises than you can shake a Targ at.

June 7

We knew that space dogfights were only a matter of time when, in 1912, the US army tested the first machine gun mounted on a plane. Auspicious birthdays include Anthony Simcoe (1969) who played Ka D’Argo in TV’s “Farscape” series, and Liam Neeson (1952), who played Qui-Gon Jinn in STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE.

June 8

On this day in 2007, the Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully launched NASA Mission STS-117 into orbit. Auspicious birthdays include Lexa Doig (1973) who played the best looking form of artificial intelligence ever in TV’s “Andromeda” and crooner James Darren (1936) who played the best singing form of artificial intelligence – Vic Fontaine – on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”

June 9

And, speaking of STAR TREK, on this day in 1989, William Shatner’s much maligned STAR TREK: THE FINAL FRONTIER debuted in theatres. (Blame God, pun intended.) Auspicious birthdays include STAR WARS’ Natalie Portman (1981) and BACK TO THE FUTURE’s Michael J. Fox (1961).

June 10

In 1948, test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell XS-1. In 1977, Apple Computers shipped its first Apple II to stores. In 2011, JJ Abrams premiered SUPER 8 in theatres. Auspicious birthdays include sci-fi and fantasy author Kage Baker (1952).

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