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March 4 in spaceflight

20 orbital launches flew on March 4, the earliest of them in 1968, and 17 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on March 4. Below are the pictures NASA published on March 4 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

20MISSIONS

17 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1968, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1675 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 4, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on March 4

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

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.

© Petr Horalek — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on March 4

  1. 1675

    John Flamsteed (pictured) was appointed the first Astronomer Royal by King Charles II of England.

    John Flamsteed ↗

  3. 1979

    The space probe Voyager 1 discovered the rings of Jupiter, the third ring system to be discovered in the Solar System, after those of Saturn and Uranus.

    Voyager 1 ↗

  4. 1986

    The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley's Comet and the first images of its nucleus.

    Soviet Union ↗

Every launch on March 4

20 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-40SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-41SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Transporter 10 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare)SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-8SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2023Qaem 100 | Nahid-1IRGCAFFAILURE
  6. 2021Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink 17SpXSUCCESS
  7. 2016Falcon 9 Full Thrust | SES-9SpXSUCCESS
  8. 2011Minotaur-C (Taurus XL) | GloryOSCFAILURE
  9. 2010Delta IV M+(4,2) | GOES-P (GOES 15)ULASUCCESS
  10. 1997Start-1.2 | ZeyaRVSN RFSUCCESS
  11. 1994Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-62LSOCSUCCESS
  12. 1992Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 83PRSCSUCCESS
  13. 1982Kosmos-3M | Taifun-2 11CCCPFAILURE
  14. 1980Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 17CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1978Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 85CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1972Voskhod | Zenit-2M 26CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1970Thorad SLV-2H Agena D | KH-4B 9USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-2 79CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1969Titan IIIB | KH-8 20USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1968Atlas SLV-3A Agena D | OGO 5USAFSUCCESS

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.