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January 15 in spaceflight

22 orbital launches flew on January 15, the earliest of them in 1965, and 19 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on January 15. Below are the pictures NASA published on January 15 in 3 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

22MISSIONS

19 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1965, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1818 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

3IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for January 15, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on January 15

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

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.

NASA · public domain

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.

NASA · public domain

NASA Science

2021

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.

NASA · public domain

What happened on January 15

  1. 1818

    A paper by David Brewster is read to the Royal Society, belatedly announcing his discovery of what we now call the biaxial class of doubly-refracting crystals. On the same day, Augustin-Jean Fresnel signs a "supplement" (submitted four days later) on reflection of polarized light.

    David Brewster ↗

  3. 2005

    ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the Moon.

    European Space Agency ↗

Every launch on January 15

22 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Ceres-1S | Tianqi 37-40GESUCCESS
  2. 2026Long March 2C | AlSat 3ACASCSUCCESS
  3. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Mission 1 & Hakuto-R M2 “Resilience”SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-37SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2023Falcon Heavy | USSF-67SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2023Long March 2D | 6 x Jilin-1, Qilu-2/3 & othersCASCSUCCESS
  7. 2020Long March 2D | Jilin-1 Wideband 01, Tianqi-4, NuSat-7 & 8CASCSUCCESS
  8. 2019Simorgh | PayamISAFAILURE
  9. 2016Long March 3B/E | BELINTERSAT-1CASCSUCCESS
  10. 2013Rokot / Briz-KM | 3 x Strela-3M (Kosmos-2482, Kosmos-2483, Kosmos-2484)VKOFAILURE
  11. 2008Zenit | Thuraya 3SLSUCCESS
  12. 1995Mu-3S-II | EXPRESSISASFAILURE
  13. 1991Ariane 44L | Italsat 1ASASUCCESS
  14. 1988Tsiklon-3 | Strela-3 31 to 36CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1987Soyuz U | Zenit-8 42CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1986Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 20CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1985Tsiklon-3 | Strela-3 1 to 6CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1976Titan IIIE | Helios-BLMTSUCCESS
  19. 1970Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 29CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1970Thor Delta M | INTELSAT III F-6USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1969Soyuz | Soyuz 5CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1965Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4A 16USAFSUCCESS

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.