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January 16 in spaceflight

20 orbital launches flew on January 16, the earliest of them in 1963, and 17 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on January 16. Below are the pictures NASA published on January 16 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

20MISSIONS

17 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1963, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1809 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for January 16, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on January 16

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

NASA Science

2026

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.

© Justus Falk — used with the credit NASA publishes

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

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.

NASA · public domain

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.

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 16

  1. 1809

    Peninsular War: French forces under Jean-de-Dieu Soult attacked the British amphibious evacuation under Sir John Moore at Corunna in Galicia, Spain.

    Peninsular War ↗

  2. 1969

    Space Race: Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of crewed spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.

    Space Race ↗

  3. 2003

    The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.

    Space Shuttle Columbia ↗

Every launch on January 16

20 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Long March 3B/E | Shijian 32CASCFAILURE
  2. 2025Starship | Flight 7SpXFAILURE
  3. 2025New Glenn | Maiden FlightBOSUCCESS
  4. 2020Ariane 5 ECA | Eutelsat Konnect & GSAT-30ASASUCCESS
  5. 2020Kuaizhou 1A | Yinhe-1EPSUCCESS
  6. 2010Long March 3C | Compass-G1CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2003Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-107USAFAILURE
  8. 2002Titan IVB | Milstar 5USAFSUCCESS
  9. 1996Kosmos-3M | Parus 85NPSUCCESS
  10. 1987Soyuz-U2 | Progress 27CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1986Kosmos-3M | Parus 53CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1985Soyuz U | Zenit-8 10CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1985Molniya-M | Molniya-3 36LCCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1982Delta 3910/PAM | Satcom 4USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-4MT 20CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1981Kosmos-3M | Taifun-1 12CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1979Kosmos-3M | Parus 17CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1970Kosmos 11K63 | DS-MO 2CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1968Voskhod | Zenit-2 58CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1963Thor DM-21 Agena-B | P-698BK Group 1-D 1USAFSUCCESS

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.