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February 20 in spaceflight

16 orbital launches flew on February 20, the earliest of them in 1962, and 14 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 7 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 20. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 20 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

16MISSIONS

14 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1962, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

7ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1944 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 20, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on February 20

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.

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 20

  2. 1962

    The Project Mercury stamp, designed by Charles R. Chickering, was released to commemorate the successful space flight of Colonel John Glenn.

    Project Mercury ↗

  3. 1962

    Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.

    Project Mercury ↗

  4. 1965

    The NASA spacecraft Ranger 8 spacecraft transmitted 7,137 photographs of the Moon in the final 23 minutes of its mission before crashing as planned into Mare Tranquillitatis.

    Ranger 8 ↗

  5. 1965

    Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

    Ranger 8 ↗

  6. 1968

    The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing.

    China Academy of Space Technology ↗

  7. 1986

    The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.

    Soviet Union ↗

Every launch on February 20

16 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-36SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | HTS-113BT (Merah Putih 2)SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2021Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-15 (S.S. Katherine Johnson)NGSSSUCCESS
  4. 2020Soyuz 2.1a/Fregat-M | Meridian-M No.19LVKSSUCCESS
  5. 2001Start-1 | OdinVKSSUCCESS
  6. 1999Soyuz-U | Soyuz TM-29RFSASUCCESS
  7. 1993Mu-3S-II | AsukaISASSUCCESS
  8. 1987Tsiklon-3 | Geo-IK 9CCCPSUCCESS
  9. 1983Mu-3S | TenmaISASSUCCESS
  10. 1980Proton-K/DM | Raduga 6CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1976Soyuz U | Yantar-2K 4CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1975Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | INTELSAT IV F6USAFFAILURE
  13. 1968Kosmos-3M | Sfera 1CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1968Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U2-V 4CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1965Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-A1 6CCCPFAILURE
  16. 1962Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 6NASASUCCESS

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.