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February 26 in spaceflight

23 orbital launches flew on February 26, the earliest of them in 1960, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 7 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 26. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 26 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

23MISSIONS

22 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2022.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

7ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from -747 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 26, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on February 26

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.

© Dietmar Hager — 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.

NASA · public domain

What happened on February 26

  1. -747

    According to Ptolemy, the reign of the Babylonian king Nabonassar (name in Akkadian pictured) began, marking a new era characterized by the systematic maintenance of chronologically precise historical records.

    740s BC ↗

  2. -747

    According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events.

    Ptolemy ↗

  4. 1616

    Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.

    Galileo affair ↗

  5. 1935

    With the aid of a radio station in Daventry, England, and two receiving antennae, Scottish engineer and inventor Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated the use of radar.

    Daventry ↗

  6. 1935

    Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.

    Robert Watson-Watt ↗

  7. 1966

    Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket.

    Apollo program ↗

Every launch on February 26

23 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2022Long March 4C | L-SAR 01BCASCSUCCESS
  2. 2011Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat | Glonass-K1 (Kosmos 2471)VKSSUCCESS
  3. 2009Zenit | Telstar 11NSLSUCCESS
  4. 2005H-IIA 2022 | Himawari-6 (MTSAT-1R)JAXASUCCESS
  5. 2001Soyuz U | Progress M-44RFSASUCCESS
  6. 1999Ariane 44L | Arabsat 3A & Skynet 4EASASUCCESS
  7. 1998Pegasus XL | Broadband Advanced Technologies Satellite (BATSAT/Teledesic T1) & Student Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE)OSCSUCCESS
  8. 1992Ariane 44L | Superbird B1 & Arabsat 1CASASUCCESS
  9. 1991Kosmos-3M | Parus 71CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1988Molniya-M | US-K 56CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1987Delta 3924 | GOES 7USAFSUCCESS
  12. 1987Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 29CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1986Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 21CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1982Molniya-M | Molniya-1K 53CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1982Delta 3910/PAM | Westar 4USAFSUCCESS
  16. 1977Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 11CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1975Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 37CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1971Soyuz 11A511L | T2K 2CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1969Voskhod | Zenit-4 51CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1969Thor Delta E1 | ESSA 9USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1966Saturn IB | Apollo AS-201NASASUCCESS
  22. 1965Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-1 2CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1960Atlas Agena A | Midas 1USAFFAILURE

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.