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February 4 in spaceflight

15 orbital launches flew on February 4, the earliest of them in 1960, and 12 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 4. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 4 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

15MISSIONS

12 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1801 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 4, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on February 4

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.

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.

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

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.

© Mike Selby — 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.

© Robert Fedez — used with the credit NASA publishes

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 February 4

  1. 1801

    John Marshall, whose court opinions helped lay the basis for U.S. constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a coequal branch of government, took office as chief justice.

    John Marshall ↗

  2. 1801

    John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.

    John Marshall ↗

  3. 1846

    The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.

    Mormon pioneers ↗

  4. 1967

    Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.

    Lunar Orbiter program ↗

Every launch on February 4

15 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | WorldView Legion 5 & 6SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025New Shepard | NS-29BOSUCCESS
  3. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 12-3SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2021Long March 3B | TJSW-6CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2021Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink 18SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2002H-IIA 2024 | TsubasaJAXASUCCESS
  7. 1998Ariane 44LP | Inmarsat-3 F5 & Brasilsat B3ASASUCCESS
  8. 1990Long March 3 | DFH-2A 4CASCSUCCESS
  9. 1986Soyuz U | Zenit-8 28CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1983N-2 | Sakura 2ANASDASUCCESS
  11. 1978Mu-3H | KyokkoISASSUCCESS
  12. 1976Mu-3C | CORSAISASFAILURE
  13. 1970Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | SERT 2USAFSUCCESS
  14. 1961Molniya 8K78 | Venera-1VA 1CCCPFAILURE
  15. 1960Thor Agena A | Discoverer 9USAFFAILURE

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.