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October 12 in spaceflight

18 orbital launches flew on October 12, the earliest of them in 1964, and 16 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 12. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 12 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

18MISSIONS

16 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1964, the most recent 2022.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1964 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 12, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on October 12

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

Scientists are melting holes in the bottom of the world. In fact, almost 100 holes melted near the South Pole are now being used as an astronomical observatory. Astronomers with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory lowered a long string knotted with basketball-sized light detectors into each vertical lake. The water in each hole soon refreezes. The detectors attached to the strings are sensitive to blue light emitted in the surrounding clear ice. Such light results from fast-moving secondary particles liberated when high-energy neutrinos emitted by powerful processes out in the universe collide with ice molecules. IceCube has now detected many illuminating neutrinos. Pictured in 2010, one of the last of IceCube's detector strings is lowered into the freezing abyss, making IceCube the largest neutrino detector ever created. In recognition of unprecedented discoveries, it was announced earlier this week that a founding leader of the IceCube Collaboration will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.Tomorrow's picture: Moons Planet

NASA · public domain

NASA Science

2025

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

© JPL/Caltech — used with the credit NASA publishes

NASA Science

2024

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

© Jonathan Eggleston — used with the credit NASA publishes

NASA Science

2023

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

© David Cruz — used with the credit NASA publishes

NASA Science

2022

NASA Science

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

© Tommy Lease — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on October 12

  1. 1964

    The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew, and the first flight without pressure suits.

    Voskhod 1 ↗

  3. 2005

    The second Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 6, is launched, carrying two cosmonauts in orbit for five days.

    Shenzhou 6 ↗

Every launch on October 12

18 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2022Long March 2C | 5 m S-SAR-01 (Huanjing-2E)CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2022Proton-M/Blok DM-03 | AngoSat-2RFSASUCCESS
  3. 2022Epsilon | RAISE-3 & othersJAXAFAILURE
  4. 2012Soyuz STB/Fregat-MT | Galileo L2 (IOV FM03-FM04)ASASUCCESS
  5. 2011PSLV-CA | Megha-TropiquesISROSUCCESS
  6. 2008Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-13RFSASUCCESS
  7. 2005Long March 2F | Shenzhou-6CASCSUCCESS
  8. 1992Delta II | DFS-Kopernikus 3USAFSUCCESS
  9. 1990Ariane 44L | SBS 6 & Galaxy 6ASASUCCESS
  10. 1984Scout G-1 | Nova 3USAFSUCCESS
  11. 1983Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 33CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1982Proton | Uragan 1CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 12CCCPFAILURE
  14. 1975Scout D-1 | TIP 2USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1970Kosmos-3M | Zaliv 6CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1969Soyuz | Soyuz 7CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1966Atlas SLV-3 Agena D | KH-7 33USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1964Voskhod | Voskhod 1CCCPSUCCESS

FIELD KIT / LIBRARY

SPONSORED

General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links here cost you nothing extra.

  • LISTING

    Cosmos — Carl Sagan

    Still the best single argument for why any of this matters, and it leaves the arithmetic in. For a reader who wants the science, not just the awe.

    VIEW

  • LISTING

    Pale Blue Dot — Carl Sagan

    The case for leaving Earth, written by someone unsentimental about how hard that is. Suits readers who want the argument rather than the poster.

    VIEW

  • LISTING

    Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir

    Hard-SF problem solving in The Martian's key — for anyone who liked the engineering more than the peril. The only novel on this list.

    VIEW

BROWSE opens an Amazon search, not a specific recommendation.

LINKS AMAZON.COM

Sources and licences

Event text and thumbnails come from Wikipedia and are used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Images are drawn only from Wikimedia Commons, which does not accept non-free content — each thumbnail links to its file page, where its licence and author are recorded.

Launch records are from The Space Devs’ Launch Library 2. Pictures are NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day; NASA imagery is generally not subject to copyright, but individual APOD entries are frequently the property of the photographer, and each caption says which applies.