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February 18 in spaceflight

17 orbital launches flew on February 18, the earliest of them in 1961, and 17 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 18. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 18 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

17MISSIONS

17 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from -3102 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 18, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on February 18

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.

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.

© Dave Doctor — 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.

© Jens Bydal — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on February 18

  1. -3102

    According to Hindu scriptures, Kali Yuga, the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas, began.

    4th millennium BC ↗

  2. -3102

    Kali Yuga, the fourth and final yuga of Hinduism, starts with the death of Krishna.

    Kali Yuga ↗

  3. 1930

    While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.

    January ↗

  4. 1977

    NASA's first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, made its first test flight on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (both pictured).

    NASA ↗

  6. 2021

    Perseverance, a Mars rover designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars, as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, lands successfully.

    Perseverance (rover) ↗

Every launch on February 18

17 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-12SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Electron | Fasten Your Space Belts (BlackSky Gen-3 1)RLSUCCESS
  3. 2024Electron | On Closer Inspection (ADRAS-J)RLSUCCESS
  4. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Inmarsat-6 F2SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2020Ariane 5 ECA+ | JCSAT-17 & GEO-KOMPSAT-2BASASUCCESS
  6. 2006H-IIA 2024 | Himawari-7 (MTSAT-2)JAXASUCCESS
  7. 2004Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 93PRSCSUCCESS
  8. 2000Ariane 44LP | Superbird B2ASASUCCESS
  9. 1998Delta II | Iridium 50, 52, 53, 54, 56USAFSUCCESS
  10. 1994Proton | Raduga 31KhSCSUCCESS
  11. 1988Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F40 108L 7CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1987Kosmos-3M | Parus 58CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1981Soyuz U | Yantar-1KFT 1CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1979Scout D-1 | SAGENASASUCCESS
  15. 1974Scout D-1 | San Marco 4ASISUCCESS
  16. 1971Voskhod | Zenit-4M 11CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 21 (MIDAS RM-2)USAFSUCCESS

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.