Terminator 2: Judgment Day wins 5 Saturn Awards 1992

James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day won five Saturn Awards at the 18th annual ceremony held March 13, 1992, by the Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films. Terminator 2 won Best Science Fiction Film; Edward Furlong won Best Performance by a Younger Actor for his performance as John Connor; Linda Hamilton won Best Actress for her performance as Sarah Connor, beating Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, Julia Roberts, Winona Ryder, and Meryl Streep; James Cameron won Best Director; Stan Winston won Best Special Effects.

Terminator 2 was nominated for Best Actor for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Patrick, Best Writing, and Best Make-up.

Dark Shadows, a re-imagining of the original series which aired from January to March 1991, won Best Genre Television Series. I wasn't even aware this series existed, but Ben Cross playing Barnabas Collins rings a tiny bell.

Gene Roddenberry was give the George Pal Memorial Award.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Pablo Morales, Olympic gold medalist

Pablo Morales, born December 5, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois to Cuban immigrants, won gold medals in swimming at the 1984 and 1992 Olympics.  He also set world records in the 100 m butterfly in 1984 and 1986.

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Morales won a gold for the 4x100 m relay and two silver medals for the butterfly, setting the world record. Unfortunately, he did not qualify for the 1988 Olympics, and retired from the sport. 

He returned to swimming and qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where he won the gold in the 100 m butterfly.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Oscar De La Hoya, Mexican-American boxer extraordinaire

Oscar De La Hoya, born February 4, 1973 in East Los Angeles, California, is the first boxer in history to win world titles in six different weight divisions: Super featherweight, Lightweight, Light Welterweight, Welterweight, Light Middleweight, and Middleweight.

Over his career of 45 professional boxing fights, he won 39 times, with only 6 losses. 

De La Hoya took home the gold medal in the 1992 Olympic games, and he was named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year in 1995.  In 2008, he was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame.

Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cost of Living" wins two Primetime Emmys 1992

The twentieth episode of the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Cost of Living, won two Primetime Emmys at the 44th annual ceremony held August 30, 1992.  Only four other episodes of TNG have achieved this.  Cost of Living won for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series. It received a nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series.

Episodes Conundrum and A Matter of Time tied with a show The Last Halloween for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Special Visual Effects.

Episode Unification II was nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art Direction along with an episode of Murder, She Wrote, but they lost to Northern Exposure.  Bummer.

Unification I was nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore).

Power Play was nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Editing for a Series.

The Next Phase was nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement for a Drama Series.

Uribyol-1, South Korea's first satellite, launched 1992

South Korea launched its first satellite, Uribyol-1 (aka KITSAT-1, KITSTA-A, KITSAT-OSCAR 23), August 10, 1992.  It was a product of the Korean Institute of Technology Satellite and given the nickname "Our Star". It was expected to have a lifespan of only 5 years but communications were maintained for 12 years.  

At the time, South Korea became the 22nd country to operate a satellite. 

Mannheim Steamroller wins Grammy Award for "Fresh Aire 7" 1992

Mannheim Steamroller released the seventh album in their Fresh Aire series, Fresh Aire 7, in November 1990.  It reached #77 on the Billboard album charts but on February 25, 1992, Chip Davis brought home the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.

This is my favorite song from the album:

Bion 10 (Kosmos 2229) launched 1992

 

Bion 10, or Kosmos 2229, a Russian spacecraft as part of a multinational effort, was launched December 29, 1992.  It carried two monkeys, plants, cell cultures, insects, and amphibians. The Rhesus monkeys were trained to activate food and juice dispensers, to operate a foot pedal to study muscles responses, and to make hand and head movements in response to visual stimuli.

The countries involved were Canada, France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, China, Russia, Ukraine, US, Uzbekistan, and the European Space Agency.

The spacecraft orbited Earth for almost 12 days, before landing successfully on January 10, 1993.

Discovery (STS-53) launched 1992

STS-53 crew

Back row (L-R): David Walker, Robert Cabana, Michael Clifford

Front row (L-R): Guion Bluford, James Voss

STS-53 mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-53) launched December 2, 1992, carrying a classified payload for the Department of Defense. Its crew consisted of Commander David Walker, Robert Cabana, Guion Bluford (final flight), Michael Clifford (first flight), and James Voss.

One of the unclassified payload was the Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres (ODERACS), which put objects of known size and shape into orbit.  The experiment was used to calibrate radars and telescopes for measuring orbital debris.

The crew returned to Earth December 9.

"Alien 3" released 1992

Alien 3, released May 22, 1992, is the third installment of the Alien franchise, and just might be the worst of them, IMHO.  It was featured on a youtube.com channel as one of the top 10 movies that pissed off their audiences in the first scene.

Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Ellen Ripley, and the movie takes place only days or weeks after the events Aliens.  A malfunction aboard the military ship causes the life pods containing Ripley, Hicks and Newt, to be ejected.  They crash-land on a prison colony planet.  And the aliens arrive on the same escape pod and begin to wreak havoc.

Michael Biehn (Corporal Hicks) found of that his character was written out of the third movie and so he refused to have anything to do with the film, even not allowing them to use his image. Carrie Henn (Newt) probably could not have recreated her role, since there were six years between movies, but only weeks between the events in the movies.

Alien 3 was nominated for an Academy Award, for Best Visual Effects.

Def Leppard releases "Adrenalize" 1992

Def Leppard released their fifth studio album Adrenalize March 31, 1992.  It was the first album after the death of guitar player Steve Clark the previous year.  It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and received a 4-star review from Rolling Stone.

It is currently triple platinum in the the US.

"Beauty And The Beast" wins three Golden Globes 1992

Disney's blockbuster animated film Beauty and the Beast won three Golden Globe Awards at the 49th ceremony held January 18, 1992.

The movie won Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, Best Original Score for Alan Menken, and Best Original Song for Beauty and the Beast performed by Peabo Byson and Celine Dion.  

Be Our Guest was also nominated for Best Original Song for Angela Lansbury and Jerry Orbach.

The Vatican admits Galileo was right all along 359 years later, 1992

October 31, 1992, the Catholic Church, the Vatican and Pope John Paul II finally admitted the church "erred" when it prosecuted Galilei Galileo for heresy, because he promoted the Copernican theory that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around.  

In 1633, Catholic prosecutors argued that the sun revolving around the Earth was explicitly stated in the Bible.  

Exactly which passage says that?  Show your work, guys!

"Absolutely Fabulous" premieres 1992

Controversial and hilarious British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous aired its first episode Fashion November 12, 1992.  Jennifer Saunders wrote and starred in the series as Edina Monsoon.  Joanna Lumley played her best friend Patsy Stone.  The show followed their completely hedonistic lifestyles and their misadventures. 

Saunders expanded a sketch from her comedy show French and Saunders with Dawn French.

"Batman Returns" released 1992

Batman Returns, the sequel to Tim Burton's blockbuster Batman, was released June 19, 1992 to positive reviews.  It starred Michael Keaton as Batman, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Danny Devito as the Penguin.  It was the highest-grossing opening for a film at that time.  Jurassic Park beat its record the next year.

It received nominations for two Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup.  The movie received criticism for its dark nature, violence and sexual references.

Discovery (STS-42) launched 1992

STS-42 crew (L-R): Stephen Oswald, Roberta Bondar, Norman Thagard, Ronald Grabe, David Hilmers, Ulf Merbold, William Readdy

STS-42 mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-42), launched January 22, 1992, carried seven astronauts into space to study the effects of microgravity on different organisms.  Its crew consisted  of Commander Ronald Grabe, Pilot Stephen Oswald, Norman Thagard, William Readdy, David Hilmers, Roberta Bondar (CSA) and Ulf Merbold (ESA).

Merbold, Germany's first astronaut, made his second flight on STS-42.  Roberta Bondar was Canada's first female astronaut and this was her only space flight.

They landed January 30.

Columbia (STS-52) launched 1992

Front Row (L-R): Charles Veach, Tamara Jernigan, William Shepherd

Back Row (L-R): Michael Baker, James Wetherbee, Steven Maclean

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-52) blasted off October 22, 1992.  Its crew consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Michael Baker, Charles Veach, William Shepherd, Tamara Jernigan and Steven MacLean (CSA).

The crew carried out experiments and projects that were joint ventures with the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, Italian Space Agency and France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. 

Also, some of Gene Roddenberry's ashes flew on this trip.  Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, died the previous October.

Columbia returned to Earth November 1.

Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics" airs 1992

To the delight of Trekkies everywhere, Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott appeared in Relics an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  The USS Enterprise discovers a Dyson Sphere, and find a missing transport ship, the USS Jenolan.  They find a diagnostic loop in the ship's transporter buffer that has allowed Scotty survive for 75 years.

Scotty struggles to fit into the future and catch up on the last 75 years, but manages to prove that he is still useful.

Endeavour (STS-47) launched 1992

STS-47 crew

Front row (L-R): Jay Apt, Curtis Brown; 

Back row (L-R): Jan Davis, Mark Lee, Robert Gibson, Mae Jemison,  Mamoru Mohri

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-47), launched September 12, 1992, was the  fiftieth mission of NASA's shuttle program and the second flight for Endeavour.  Its crew consisted of Commander Robert L. Gibson, Pilot Curtis Brown, Mark Lee, Jay Apt, Jan Davis, Mae Jemison and Mamoru Mohri (JAXA).

It was the first flight for an African-American female, Mae C. Jemison.  It was the first time a married couple went into space, Mark Lee and Jan Davis.  NASA has a rule prohibiting married couples from serving on the same mission, but Lee and Davis got married in a secret ceremony a few weeks prior.  By the time NASA found out, it was too late to do anything.

Mamoru Mohri became the first Japanese astronaut to fly on a shuttle mission, representing JAXA, as a payload specialist.

Soyuz TM-15 launched 1992

Soyuz TM-15 crew (L-R): Michel Tognini, Anatoly Solovyev, Sergei Avdeyev

Mission patch

Soyuz TM-15, launched July 27, 1992, was the fifteenth mission to the Mir space station.  Its crew consisted of  Commander Anatoly Solovyev, Sergei Avdeyev and Michel Tognini (CNES). 

Tognini is a National Center for Space Studies astronaut and took part in the mission as a joint project between Russia and France.

Giotto probe visits Comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup 1992

The European Space Agency launched the Giotto probe in July 1985, and on July 10, 1992, it made its closest approach to Comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup. 

The probe first made contact with Halley's Comet in March 1986, but during the flyby, the probe's camera was destroyed.  When Giotto passed by Comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup, it could not take any images.