Before Chris Evans steamed up the movie screen as the Marvel superhero, Matt Salinger brought Captain America to audiences July 27, 1990. Directed by Albert Pyun, it had a stacked cast: Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Michael Nouri, Melinda Dillon, and Bill Mumy.
It was not well-received and did poorly at the box office.
Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, born May 24, 1990 in the previous Soviet Union, went into space aboard SpaceX Crew-9 to the International Space Station, as mission specialist in September 2024. He participated in Expedition 72 and planned to spend a month in space, but due to the problems with the spacecraft, his stay was extended.
He spent 171 days in space, returning to Earth in March 2025.
Janet Jackson's multiple award-winning album Rhythm Nation 1814 continued to garner more honors at the 32nd annual Grammy ceremony held February 21, 1990. She took home the Grammy for Best Music Video, Long Form, with Aris McGarry (video producer), Johnathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (video producers and directors), and Dominic Sena (video director)
Young MC won Best Rap Performance for his Bust a Move. From this point on, the category was split into Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. These two were combined again in 2012 and reinstated as the Award for Best Rap Performance.
Peter Schickele won Best Comedy Recording for his P.D.Q. Bach: 1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults.
Nat King Cole and Paul McCartney were each awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire was nominated for Record of the Year, but lost to Bette Midler's Wind Beneath My Wings.
Considered one of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Yesterday's Enterprise, the fifteenth episode of the third season, aired February 17, 1990. The Enterprise D encounters a rip in the space-time continuum. The Enterprise C, which had been lost years before, appears, and the present is changed. The Enterprise D becomes a war ship. Lt. Tasha Yar appears and Lt. Worf disappears. Guinan knows something is wrong and demands that Picard send the Enterprise C back, even though it means its imminent destruction.
The episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. It is the only episode in which Guinan and Tasha Yar have a scene together. Yar was killed in the first season, and Guinan appeared in the second season.
Earlier drafts of the episode had Worf being the Klingon commander who demands the Enterprise to surrender. Also, the writers decided to kill Tasha Yar off a second time to give her a more heroic send-off, since her first death was deemed a disappointment. It was the last time Tasha Yar and Wesley Crusher appeared in the same episode.
Steven Spielberg's Who Framed Roger Rabbit was nominated for eight Saturn Awards and won three of them from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film at the annual ceremony January 21, 1990.
It won Best Fantasy Film, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, and Best Special Effects for George Gibbs, Ken Ralston, and Richard Williams at Industrial Light & Magic.
Roger Rabbit was nominated for Best Actor for Bob Hoskins, Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Lloyd, Best Supporting Actress for Joanna Cassidy, Best Writing, and Best Music.
Beetlejuice was also nominated for eight awards and won three. Willow won for Best Costumes.
Star Trek: The Next Generation won Best Genre Television Series.
My man Billy Joel appeared on an episode of Sesame Street March 2, 1990. I can't find clips that are labeled from that episode, but here is a one from one of his appearances on the show. I think it's great to see him singing the ABCs to a group of children.
Multi-talented actress Dame Angela Lansbury won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama for her role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote, at the 47th ceremony held January 20, 1990. It was her third win for playing Fletcher and fifth Golden Globe overall.
Season Three, Episode 15 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Yesterday's Enterprise, won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series at the 42nd ceremony, September 16, 1990. The episode was also nominated for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore), and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series. The episode Sins of the Father won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Art Direction for a Series.
Four other episodes were nominated:
Deja Q for Outstanding Editing for a Series
Hollow Pursuits for Outstanding Hairstyling for a series
Allegiance for Outstanding Makeup for a Series
Tin Man, Deja Q for Outstanding Special Visual Effects
As much as it pains me to do so, I have to agree that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier deserved all the Razzies it won. Of all the movies and television shows I enjoy, this movie is definitely at the bottom of the list. And that includes the third season of the original series.
It won(?) for Worst Picture, Worst Actor (William Shatner), and Worst Director (also William Shatner). DeForest Kelley was nominated as Worst Supporting Actor. The movie also received nominations for Worst Screenplay and Worst Movie of the Decade.
Janet Jackson won three Soul Train Music Awards at the 4th ceremony March 14, 1990. Her album Rhythm Nation 1814 won Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Album-Female. Her single Miss You Much won Best R&B /Urban Contemporary Single-Female. Her video Rhythm Nation won Best Music Video.
Douglas Wilder, born on January 17, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia, became the first African-American governor of Virginia and the first since the Reconstruction era. He served from January 1990 until January 1994.
He is the grandson of slaves and graduated from Virginia Union University with a degree in chemistry in 1951. He served in the US Army in the Vietnam War and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his actions at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.
Disney's break-out animated masterpiece, The Little Mermaid, won two Golden Globe Awards at the 47th ceremony on January 20, 1990. Alan Menken won for Best Original Score. Under the Sea, written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman won Best Original Song.
It was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical but lost to Driving Miss Daisy.
Soyuz TM-11 crew (L-R): Toyohiro Akiyama, Viktor Afanasyev, Musa Manarov
Mission patch
Soyuz TM-11, launched December 2, 1990, was the 11th expedition to the space station Mir. Its crew consisted of Commander Viktor Afanasyev, Musa Manarov, and Toyohiro Akiyama (a Japanese reporter).
The cosmonauts remained on board until May 26, 1991, when they returned to Earth with Helen Sharman, a British astronaut. Akiyama returned to Earth December 10, 1990 aboard Soyuz TM-10.
Keeping Up Appearances, a British comedy about an annoying social climber Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced "bouquet") aired its first episode October 29, 1990. It ran for 5 seasons until Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth) decided to leave the show.
She tried to be a socialite, but her sister Daisy (played by Judy Cornwell) and brother-in-law Onslow were adorably white trash. Another sister Rose was always going into or coming out of a relationship. Her sister Violet, which was rarely seen until the final season, was the envy of Hyacinth. Violet had a Mercedes, sauna and room for a pony.
She terrorized her husband Richard (played by Clive Swift), her next-door neighbors Elizabeth and Emmet, and the vicar and his wife.
It's still one of the funniest television shows ever.
The official video for Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation won Best Choreography at the MTV Music Video Awards at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, September 6, 1990. Janet also took home the Video Vanguard as well!
Rhythm Nation was also nominated for Best Dance Video, but lost to MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This.
Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire was nominated for three MTV awards: Best Special Effects in a Video, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography, but lost to Tears for Fears, The B-52s and Madonna.
Front row (L-R): Guy Gardner, Vance Brand, John Lounge
Back row (L-R): Robert Parker, Ronald Parise, Jeffrey Hoffman, Samuel Durrance
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-35), launched December 2, 1990, was devoted to astronomical observations. Its crew consisted of Commander Vance Brand, Pilot Guy Gardner, Jeffrey Hoffman, John Lounge, Robert Parker, Samuel Durrance, and Ronald Parise.
STS-41 crew (L-R): Bruce Melnick, Robert Cabana, Thomas Akers, Richard Richards, William Shepherd
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41), launched October 6, 1990, deployed the Ulysses probe, which was sent to study the polar regions of the sun. Its crew consisted of Commander Richard Richards, Pilot Robert Cabana, Bruce Melnick, William Shepherd and Thomas Akers.
Ulysses was launched only six hours after Discovery took off. The crew returned to Earth October 10.
The Hiten spacecraft, launched January 24, 1990, was Japan's first lunar spacecraft. It was also the first lunar spacecraft from a country other than the United States and the Soviet Union. It was the first lunar probe since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976.
Hiten was manufactured by Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, which later became a division of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Hiten experienced some problems after launch, but the issues were solved and Hiten entered a lunar orbit. It released a small orbiter, Hagoromo, on its first flyby of the moon. Hagoromo's transmitter failed but its orbit was confirmed visually from Earth.
Hiten was deliberately crashed onto the lunar surface in April 1993.
STS-31 crew (L-R): Charles Bolden, Steven Hawley, Loren Shriver, Bruce McCandless, Kathryn Sullivan
Discovery (STS-31), launched April 24, 1990, carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. Its crew consisted of Commander Loren Shriver, Pilot Charles Bolden, Mission Specialist 1 Bruce McCandless, Mission Specialist 2 Steven Hawley and Mission Specialist 3 Kathryn Sullivan.
During the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope, one of the solar arrays on the observatory failed to unfurl completely. While ground control tried to get the solar array to finish unfurling, McCandless and Sullivan prepared for a spacewalk, but ground control managed to complete the task before it became necessary to leave the shuttle.
Left to right: Pierre Thuot, John Casper, John Creighton, Richard Mullane, David Hilmers
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Atlantis, launched February 28, 1990, was the sixth flight for Atlantis and carried a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense. Its crew consisted of Commander John Creighton, Pilot John Casper, mission specialists Pierre Thuot, David Hilmers and Richard Mullane.
It has been theorized that the crew deployed a reconnaissance satellite "Misty" for the DoD, but that is still classified.
