Launches
ON RECORD25MISSIONS
23 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2026.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
February 21 in spaceflight
25 orbital launches flew on February 21, the earliest of them in 1961, and 23 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 1 spaceflight and astronomy event on February 21. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 21 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD1ENTRY
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1972 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED6IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 21, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on February 21
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.
© Tunc Tezel — 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.
NASA · public domain
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.
© Robert Nemiroff — used with the credit NASA publishes
What happened on February 21
Every launch on February 21
25 launches
ONLINE
- 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-25SpXSUCCESS
- 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 12-14SpXSUCCESS
- 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 4-8SpXSUCCESS
- 2019Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | EgyptSat-ARFSASUCCESS
- 2014Delta IV M+(4,2) | GPS IIF-5 (USA-248)ULASUCCESS
- 2006M-V | AkariJAXASUCCESS
- 2002Atlas | Echostar VIILMTSUCCESS
- 1998H-II | KakehashiJAXASUCCESS
- 1996Soyuz-U | Soyuz TM-23RFSASUCCESS
- 1993Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-16RFSASUCCESS
- 1989Mu-3S-II | AkebonoISASSUCCESS
- 1985Proton-K/DM | US-KS 3CCCPSUCCESS
- 1984Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 34CCCPSUCCESS
- 1984Soyuz U | Progress 19CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Comstar 1DConvairSUCCESS
- 1981Mu-3S | HinotoriISASSUCCESS
- 1980Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKM 36CCCPSUCCESS
- 1979Proton-K/DM | EkranCCCPSUCCESS
- 1979Mu-3C | HakuchoISASSUCCESS
- 1977Kosmos-3M | Parus 8CCCPSUCCESS
- 1969N1 | Zond-M 1CCCPFAILURE
- 1966Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-K-40 2CCCPFAILURE
- 1965Kosmos 65S3 | Strela-1 9,10,11CCCPSUCCESS
- 1962Thor DM-21 Agena-B | P-102 Group 0-DUSAFSUCCESS
- 1961Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 2NASASUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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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.
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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.
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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.