Launches
ON RECORD23MISSIONS
20 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2022.
MARKED ON THIS DATE
1986 · 40 years ago today
The Mir core module
The first module of Mir reached orbit; the station would be occupied almost continuously for the next decade.
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ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
February 19 in spaceflight
23 orbital launches flew on February 19, the earliest of them in 1960, and 20 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 19. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 19 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD3ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1847 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED6IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 19, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on February 19
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
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.
© Robert Nemiroff — used with the credit NASA publishes
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
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
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
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.
© Jason Guenzel — used with the credit NASA publishes
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 19
2002
NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
NASA ↗
Every launch on February 19
23 launches
ONLINE
- 2022Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-17 (S.S. Piers Sellers)NGSSSUCCESS
- 2020Long March 2D | XJS-C, XJS-D, XJS-E, XJS-FCASCSUCCESS
- 2017Falcon 9 Full Thrust | SpX CRS-10SpXSUCCESS
- 1996Proton | Raduga 33KhSCSUCCESS
- 1996Tsiklon-3 | Gonets-D 319 to 321 & Strela-3 113 to 115VKSSUCCESS
- 1994Delta 7925-8 | Galaxy 1R2USAFSUCCESS
- 1988H-1 | Sakura 3AMHISUCCESS
- 1988Soyuz U | Zenit-8 59CCCPSUCCESS
- 1987Soyuz U | Zenit-8 44CCCPSUCCESS
- 1987N-2 | Momo 1aNASDASUCCESS
- 1986Tsiklon-3 | Tselina-D 54CCCPSUCCESS
- 1986Proton | MirCCCPSUCCESS
- 1982Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 33CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Molniya-M | US-K 19CCCPSUCCESS
- 1977Mu-3H | Tansei-3ISASSUCCESS
- 1976Delta 2914 | Marisat 1USAFSUCCESS
- 1976Thor Burner 2A | DMSP-5C F3USAFSUCCESS
- 1970Molniya-M | Molniya-1 13CCCPSUCCESS
- 1969Proton | Luna-15aCCCPFAILURE
- 1966Voskhod | Zenit-4 15CCCPSUCCESS
- 1964Molniya 8K78 | Zond-1bCCCPFAILURE
- 1963Scout X-3M | DSAP-1 F3USAFSUCCESS
- 1960Thor Agena A | Discoverer 10USAFFAILURE
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
SPONSORED
General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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- VIEW
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.
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.