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February 9 in spaceflight

15 orbital launches flew on February 9, the earliest of them in 1966, and 14 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 9. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 9 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

15MISSIONS

14 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1966, the most recent 2024.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1913 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 9, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on February 9

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.

© Tommy Lease — 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.

© Dennis Lehtonen — 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.

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 9

  1. 1913

    A meteor procession was observed along a great circle arc from Canada to Brazil, leading astronomers to conclude that its source was a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.

    Meteor procession ↗

  2. 1913

    A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of the Americas, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.

    Meteor ↗

  3. 1971

    Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.

    Apollo program ↗

  4. 1975

    The spacecraft and crew of the Soviet Soyuz 17 mission returned to earth after 29 days in orbit at the Salyut 4 station.

    Soyuz 17 ↗

  5. 1975

    The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.

    Soyuz 17 ↗

Every launch on February 9

15 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2024Soyuz 2.1v | Kosmos 2575VKSSUCCESS
  2. 2023Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-22 (83P)RFSASUCCESS
  3. 2020Simorgh | Zafar-1ISAFAILURE
  4. 2020H-IIA 202 | IGS Optical 7MHISUCCESS
  5. 1999Soyuz-U-PVB | Globalstar 23,36,38,40RFSASUCCESS
  6. 1993Pegasus | Satélite de Coleta de Dados-1 (SCD-1)OSCSUCCESS
  7. 1993Kosmos-3M | Parus 79NPSUCCESS
  8. 1986Atlas H | Parcae 8A,B,C & MSD 8USAFSUCCESS
  9. 1983Atlas H | Parcae 5A,B,C & MSD 5USAFSUCCESS
  10. 1980Atlas F/SVS | Navstar 5USAFSUCCESS
  11. 1978Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | FLTSATCOM 1USAFSUCCESS
  12. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-4MK 73CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1971Kosmos-3M | DS-P1-M 3CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1969Titan IIIC | TACSAT 1USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1966Thor SLV-2A Agena D | P-770 Group 3-D 2USAFSUCCESS

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.