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February 5 in spaceflight

25 orbital launches flew on February 5, the earliest of them in 1958, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 5. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 5 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

25MISSIONS

22 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1958, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

2ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1924 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 5, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on February 5

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.

© Hellas-Sky — 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

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.

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 February 5

  1. 1971

    Astronauts land on the Moon in the Apollo 14 mission.

    Apollo 14 ↗

Every launch on February 5

25 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Kosmos 2600-2608VKSSUCCESS
  2. 2025Soyuz 2.1v/Volga | Kosmos 2581/2582/2583VKSSUCCESS
  3. 2023Proton-M/Blok DM-03 | Elektro-L No.4KhSCSUCCESS
  4. 2022Soyuz 2.1a/Fregat-M | Neitron (Kosmos 2553)VKSSUCCESS
  5. 2019Ariane 5 ECA | Saudi Geostationary Satellite 1/Hellas Sat 4 & GSAT-31ASASUCCESS
  6. 2019Safir 1B | DoostiISAFAILURE
  7. 2016Atlas V 401 | GPS IIF-12 (USA-266)ULASUCCESS
  8. 2014Soyuz-U | Progress M-22M (54P)RFSASUCCESS
  9. 2008Soyuz U | Progress M-63RFSASUCCESS
  10. 2004Atlas IIAS | AMC 10LMTSUCCESS
  11. 2002Pegasus XL | Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI)OSCSUCCESS
  12. 1996Ariane 44P | N-Star bASASUCCESS
  13. 1994Proton | Raduga-1 3KhSCSUCCESS
  14. 1992Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 10RFSAFAILURE
  15. 1991Kosmos-3M | Tsikada 17CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1987Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz TM-2CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1987Mu-3S-II | GingaISASSUCCESS
  18. 1984Atlas H | Parcae 7A,B,C & MSD 7USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1982Proton-K/DM | EkranCCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1976Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-I 17CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1975Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 26CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1969Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | KH-4B 6USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1967Atlas SLV-3 Agena D | Lunar Orbiter 3USAFSUCCESS
  24. 1966R-36O 8K69 | OGCh 2CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1958Vanguard | VanguardUSNFAILURE

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.