The Carol Burnett Show, season 9, episode 19, which aired January 31, 1976, featured the Pointer Sisters. They sang That's A-Plenty and a medley of 'Fats' Waller songs with Carol and Vicki Lawrence.
I cannot find a video of the performance but just two months prior, in November 1975, the Pointer Sisters were the guest stars on the show. They starred in Carol's version of Cinderella called 'Cinderella Gets It On'.
Kimiya Yui, born January 30, 1970 in Japan, has spent 141 days in space aboard the International Space Station. He went aboard Soyuz TMA-17M in July 2015 and served as part of Expeditions 44 and 45. He returned to Earth December 2015.
Prior to going to space, Yui was an aquanaut in the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory in June 2012. He was part of expedition NEEMO 16.
Christina Koch, born January 29, 1979 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently set the world record on December 28, 2019 for longest continuous time in space by a woman. And she's still counting.
This is her first time in space. She launched in Soyuz MS-12 in March 2019 to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 59. Since then, she has participated in Expedition 60 and is currently part of Expedition 61. She conducted the first all-female spacewalk with fellow astronaut Jessica Meir in October 2019.
Leonid Kadenyuk, born January 28, 1951, is the first astronaut from Ukraine. He was selected for the Soviet space program to be a test pilot for the Soviet Buran program, but that didn't last.
He flew on Columbia (STS-87) as a payload specialist in November-December 1997. He did not return to space.
Asteroid 399673 Kadenyuk was named in his honor in 2004
David Hilmers, born January 28, 1950 in Clinton, Iowa, is a veteran of four space flights. He has a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Baylor College of Medicine.
Hilmers' first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-51-J) as mission specialist in October 1985. This was a Dept of Defense payload so everything was hush-hush.
His second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-26) as mission specialist in September-October 1988. This was the "Return to Flight" mission, the first mission after the Challenger disaster in January 1986.
His third flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-36) as mission specialist in February-March 1990 on another Department of Defense mission.
His fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-42) as mission specialist in January 1992. The crew carried the International Microgravity Laboaratory-1 into orbit.
Stevie Wonder's single Superstition, from his fifteenth studio album Talking Book (released October 1972) reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard R&B charts, January 27, 1973. Rolling Stone has ranked it as No. 74 on the list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the most prolific and influential composers of all time, was born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. He composed his first symphony at age 5 and composed more than 600 works during his short life.
Ludwig van Beethoven was influenced by Mozart's work.
Mozart fell ill in September 1791, and his illness worsened, causing him to become bedridden in late November. He died on December 5, 1791.
Simon and Garfunkel released Bridge Over Troubled Water, their fifth and final album January 26, 1970. The single of the same name was released just a few days prior.
The album and single won seven Grammys: Album of the Year, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, Best Engineered Recording, Contemporary Song, Record of the Year, Song of the Year. It has been certified 8 x platinum. Rolling Stone ranked the album No. 51 on the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and the single as No. 48 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The Boxer, another single from the album released in March 1969, was another success, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 106 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Murdoch Mysteries aired its first television episode January 24, 2008. It stars gorgeous actor Yannick Bisson as Detective William Murdoch and Helene Joy as Dr. Julia Ogden, the medical examiner and Murdoch's main love interest.
The series is set in the late 1890s in Toronto and Murdoch uses the latest forensic techniques such as fingerprinting to solve crimes.
The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite or GOSat was launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) January 23, 2009. It measures densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations in th eEarth's atmosphere.
Kjell Lindgren, born January 23, 1973 in Taipei, Taiwan, is a NASA astronaut and has spent 141 days on the International Space Station. He went into space aboard Soyuz TMA-17M in July 2015 as part of Expeditions 44 and 45. He returned to Earth in December 2015.
During the mission, he played the bagpipes aboard the ISS, a first.
Sir Francis Bacon, born January 22, 1561, developed the scientific method, scientific knowledge based on inductive reasoning and observation of events in nature. Scientists could achieve knowledge by use of a sceptical, methodical approach so not to mislead themselves.
He served as Queen Elizabeth I's legal advisor. James VI knighted him in 1603 and made him Baron Verulam in 1618. Bacon became the first Viscount St. Alban in 1621.
Front row (L-R): Joe Edwards, Terrence Wilcutt, Bonnie Dunbar
Back row (L-R): David Wolf, Salizhan Sharipov, James Reilly, Andy Thomas, Michael Anderson
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-89) was launched January 22, 1998 to the space station Mir. Its crew consisted of Commander Terrence Wilcutt, Pilot Joe Edwards, James Reilly, Michael Anderson, Bonnie Dunbar, Salizhan Sharipov (Roscosmos) and Andy Thomas.
Endeavour carried Andy Thomas to Mir and brought David Wolf back. Both were part of expedition Mir EO-24. The crew returned to Earth January 31.
Arte Johnson, born January 20, 1929 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, rose to fame playing many different roles on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. His most notable character was Tyrone F. Horneigh, a dirty old man who always chased Ruth Buzzi's Gladys Ormphby.
Of course, his Nazi spy hiding in the dwarf palm tree is another classic role. He won a Primetime Emmy in 1969 for Special Classification Achievements - Individuals (Variety Performances). He also won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Love At First Bite.
He passed away July 3, 2019 from bladder and prostate cancer.
SpaceX and NASA tested SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft today on its capability to separate from the rocket (Falcon 9) in the event of an emergency. Everything functioned correctly from the separation, engine shutdown and deploying the parachutes.
It was the final test before it can start carrying astronauts to the ISS.
Episode 18 of the second season of Star Trek (the original series) The Immunity Syndrome aired January 19, 1968. The crew of the Enterprise (sans Sulu since George Takei was filming The Green Berets) encounters a large dark area of space where the stars have gone out. They find an enormous amoeba draining energy from everything around it.
Kirk has to choose between Spock and McCoy to send into the amoeba with a shuttlecraft to study it and find a way to destroy it before it kills them all. Scotty, Uhura, Chekov and Nurse Chapel appeared in this episode.
Lunakhod 2, launched in Luna 21, landed on the moon and began its exploration January 16, 1973. It landed the day before. The rover ran during the day and recharged its batteries with solar panels, and then hibernated at night, heated by a radioactive source.
It operated for four months until May and covered 23 miles before it fell into a crater and was covered with dust.
Anatoly Solovyev, born January 16, 1948 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of five space flights and holds the world record for number of spacewalks performed, sixteen.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz TM-5 to he space station Mir as part of expedition Mir EP-2 in June 1988. He spent about 10 days before returning to Earth Soyuz TM-4.
His second flight was aboard Soyuz TM-9 in February 1990 as part of Expedition Mir EO-6. He remained aboard until August 1990. He conducted two EVAs to effect repairs.
His third flight was aboard Soyuz TM-15 to Mir in July 1992 as part of expedition Mir EO-12. Solovyev conducted four EVAs. He returned to Earth in February 1993.
Solovyev's fourth flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-71) as mission specialist to Mir in June 1995. He was part of expedition Mir EO-19. During the mission, he conducted three EVAs. He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-21 in September 1995.
His fifth and final fligh was aboard Soyuz TM-26 to Mir in August 1997 as part of expedition Mir EO-24. He conducted seven EVAs to set the record at sixteen. He returned to Earth in February 1998.
The Sample Return Capsule from the Stardust space probe on January 15, 2006 and landed safely in Utah. Stardust had made a flyby of the comet Wild 2 and taken samples of dust from the coma of the comet.
Among the many compounds discovered was glycine, an amino acid that scientists identify as a fundamental chemical building blocks of life. Scientists at the University of Arizona confirmed the presence of liquid water in Wild 2.
Although it received the dubious distinction of receiving a 0% rating from Rotten Tomatoes, DeepStar Six, released January 13, 1989, is a fun movie to watch. Granted, it isn't a milestone in movie-making and it strongly resembles Aliens, but how can you completely dismiss a movie with Greg Evigan, Miguel Ferrer and Cindy Pickett (she's an Okie!).
It was the first of several movies with an underwater horror theme released in 1989, but only The Abyss was a box office success. Oh, well.
Iconic American author Jack London, born January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, is one of first writers to become famous world-wide and make lots of money writing. He traveled to the Klondike in 1897 with his brother-in-law to join the gold rush. It became the setting for his first successful works.
London died in November 1916 in what has been labeled a suicide but this has been disputed. There are claims he died of natural causes after taking an accidental over-dose of morphine, which he had been taking for pain caused by a host of ailments.
Curse of the Golden Flower, released January 12, 2007, is a tale of ancient China, the Tang Dynasty in the 10th century. It's one of the best foreign films I've seen. It stars Chow Yun-Fat as the Emperor and Jay Chou as Prince Jai. It wasdirected by Yimou Zhang who directed House of Flying Daggers.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design but won the Saturn Award for Best Costume. It also won four Hong Kong Film Awards (out of 14 nominations) in 2007: Best Actress for Gong Li; Best Art Direction, Best Costume and Make-up Design and Best Original Song.
Front row (L-R): Robert Cenker, Charles Bolden, Robert Gibson, Franklin Chang Diaz
Back row (L-R): Bill Nelson, Steven Hawley, George Nelson
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-61-C), launched January 12, 1986, was the last space shuttle flight before the Challenger disaster. Its crew consisted of Commander Robert Gibson, Pilot Charles Bolden, George Nelson, Steven Hawley, Franklin Chang-Diaz, William Nelson and Robert Cenker.
It was the first flight for Franklin Chang Diaz, the first Latin-American immigrant to go into space. It was the second mission to have an African-American pilot - Charles Bolden. Bolden would go onto become NASA Administrator. It was the second mission to have a sitting politician on board - Bill Nelson (D-Florida). It was Robert Cenker's only space flight. It might be the first time two astronauts with the same last name were on board.
Handsome actor Rod Taylor, born January 11, 1930, in Sydney, Australia, had his break-out role in H. G. Well's Time Machine in 1960. He had a ppeared in an episode of the Twilight Zone in 1959. He would go on to star in one of my favorites, The Birds.
He won 5 awards as part of the ensemble cast for Inglorious Basterds, of which his role as Winston Churchill would be his last.
He was considered for Col. George Taylor in Planet of the Apes but the part went to Charlton Heston. He was also considered for Roper in Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee, but John Saxon got that role.
Taylor passed away in January 2015 from a heart attack after a fall.
Michelle Forbes, born January 8, 1965, is best known by Trekkies as Ensign Ro Laren on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She had appeared previously on an earlier episode with David Ogden Stiers. She starred in 8 episodes as Ensign/Lieutenant Ro. She was offered a full-time role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but turned it down since she wanted to have some variety in her early career.
Valeri Kubasov, born January 7, 1935 in the former Soviet Union, was a veteran of three space flights. He spent over 18 days in space.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz 6 with fellow cosmonaut Georgy Shonin. They conducted the first welding experiments in space but planned docking and rendezvous maneuvers with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 failed.
His second mission was aboard Soyuz 19 with Alexey Leonov in July 1975. They docked with NASA's Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program, a joint project between NASA and the Soviet space program.
Kuvasov's third and final mission was aboard Soyuz 36 as commander to the Salyut 6 space station in May 1980. He returned to Earth in June.
He passed away of natural causes in February 2014.
Philippe Perrin, born January 6, 1963 in Morocco, went into space on the space shuttle Endeavour (STS-111) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in June 2002. He was an astronaut for the ESA and CNES and spent almost 14 days in space. He performed 3 EVAs with fellow astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz.
Michael Foale, born January 6, 1957 in Lincolnshire, England, is a veteran of six space missions. He is the only NASA astronaut to have spent extended missions on Mir and the International Space Station. He is the first Briton to perform a spacewalk and holds the record for time-in-space for a UK citizen.
His first mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-45) as mission specialist in March-April 1992.
His second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-56) as mission specialist in April 1993.
His third mission was aboard Discovery (STS-63) as mission specialist in February 1995. It was the first space shuttle mission to dock with Mir. He conducted his first EVA with fellow astronaut Bernard Harris, the first African-American astronaut to conduct an EVA.
His fourth mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-84) as mission specialist to Mir launched in May 1997. He was part of expeditions Mir EO-23 and Mir EO-24. He returned to Earth aboard Atlantis (STS-86) in October 1997.
His fifth flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) as mission specialist to service the Hubble Space Telescope in December 1999. He conducted an EVA with fellow astronaut Claude Nicollier.
His sixth and final mission was aboard Soyuz TMA-3 to the ISS launched in October 2003 as part of Expedition 8. He conducted an EVA with fellow astronaut Aleksandr Kaleri. He returned to Earth in April 2004.
Another one of my favorite Star Trek episodes and the one that still creeps me out, The Galileo Seven, season one, episode sixteen, aired January 5, 1967. It contains some of the cheesy scenes which have endeared us to the original series. For example, Spock picking up a giant spear and throwing it back at the creatures; the obvious switch from actor to stunt man when a character falls off a cliff.
Yet, it showed Spock under fire when his logic fails when trying to deal with the illogical creatures on the planet where they have crash landed. Scotty and McCoy are among the stranded crew.
The episode starred Don Marshall as Lt. Boma, Phyllis Douglas as Yeoman Mears and Grant Woods as Kelowitz. Woods would return for two more episodes as Kelowitz. Douglas appeared once more as a hippy in The Way to Eden.
Of course, I didn't see it when it first aired because my parents did not watch Star Trek. I had to wait until it came out in syndication years later.
Maxene Anglyn Andrews, born January 3, 1916, joined older sister LaVerne Sophia and younger sister Patricia (Patty) Marie to form the iconic and historic Andrews Sisters. The group was formed when Maxene was 9 and 14 when they placed first at a local talent show.
The Andrews Sisters were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998, its inaugural year. They were inducted into the Minnesota Roc/Country Hall of Fame in May 2006. It is speculated they have sold over 90 million records world-wide. In October 1987, the Andrews Sisters received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
Maxene died in October 1995 after a series of heart attacks.
Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, born January 3, 1959 in the former Soviet Union, has been in space five times.
His first trip into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-112) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in October 2002.
His second missoin was aboard Soyuz TMA-10 to the ISS as part of Expedition 15. During the expedition, he conducted 3 EVAs.
His third trip was aboard Soyuz TMA-19 as commander to the ISS in June 2010. He participated in Expeditions 24 and 25 and conducted 2 EVAs during the stay.
His fourth trip was as commander of Soyuz TMA-09M to the ISS in May 2013, as part of Expeditions 36 and 37. He conducted two more EVAs during the mission.
His fifth and final trip was as commander of Soyuz MS-04 to the ISS in April 2017, as part of Expeditions 51 and 52, when he conducted his ninth and final EVA.
Gennadi Sarafanov, born January 1, 1942 in the former Soviet Union, went into space aboard Soyuz 15 in August 1974. He and fellow cosmonaut Lev Dyomin were to dock with Salyut 3 space station but the mission was aborted after docking failed. It was his only spaceflight before retiring.
Sergei Avdeyev, born January 1, 1956 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of three space flights and once held the record for total time spent in space.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz TM-15 as flight engineer launched in July 1992 to the space station Mir. He spent almost 189 days in space.
His second flight was aboard Soyuz TM-22 as flight engineer launched in September 1995 to Mir. He spent over 179 days in space.
His third and final flight was aboard Soyuz TM-28 as flight engineer launched in August 1998 to Mir. He spent 379 days in space and returned on Soyuz TM-29 in August 1999.
He has conducted 10 EVAs for a total of 42 hours and 2 minutes.
