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February 15 in spaceflight

23 orbital launches flew on February 15, the earliest of them in 1964, and 23 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 15. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 15 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

23MISSIONS

23 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1964, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1996 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

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

Published on February 15

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.

© Robert Nemiroff — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

© Steve Crouch — 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.

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 15

  1. 1996

    A Long March 3B rocket carrying the communications satellite Intelsat 708 crashed immediately after launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China, destroying a nearby town and killing an unknown number of inhabitants.

    Long March 3B ↗

  2. 1996

    At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3B rocket carrying Intelsat 708 veers off course and crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing somewhere between six and 100 people.

    Xichang Satellite Launch Center ↗

  3. 2003

    The last Ariane 4 rocket is launched from the Guiana Space Centre, carrying Intelsat 907.

    Ariane 4 ↗

  4. 2013

    A meteor exploded (video featured) over Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, producing a shock wave that injured about 1,500 people.

    Chelyabinsk meteor ↗

  5. 2013

    A meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings. This happens unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated asteroid 2012 DA14.

    Chelyabinsk meteor ↗

Every launch on February 15

23 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-13SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 12-8SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 7-14SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Nova-C IM-1SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2024Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-26 (87P)RFSASUCCESS
  6. 2022Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-19 (80P)RFSASUCCESS
  7. 2021Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-16 (77P)RFSASUCCESS
  8. 2020Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-13 (S.S. Robert H. Lawrence.)NGSSSUCCESS
  9. 2017PSLV XL | Cartosat-2D & 103 othersISROSUCCESS
  10. 2006Zenit | Echostar XSLSUCCESS
  11. 2003Ariane 44L | INTELSAT 907ASASUCCESS
  12. 1999Proton-K/DM-2M | Telstar 6KhSCSUCCESS
  13. 1995Soyuz U | Progress M-26RFSASUCCESS
  14. 1991Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 80CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1991Soyuz U | Yantar-1KFT 13CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1990Proton | Raduga 25CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1989Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 75CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1984Proton-K/DM | Raduga 14CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1977Kosmos-3M | DS-U2-IK GVMCCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1973Molniya-M | Prognoz-3CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1967Diamant A | Diademe D-1DCNESSUCCESS
  22. 1966Atlas SLV-3 Agena D | KH-7 25USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1964Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4A 3USAFSUCCESS

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.