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March 9 in spaceflight

17 orbital launches flew on March 9, the earliest of them in 1961, and 17 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on March 9. Below are the pictures NASA published on March 9 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

17MISSIONS

17 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1960 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 9, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on March 9

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.

© Petr Horálek — used with the credit NASA publishes

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

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 March 9

  1. 1960

    Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner implants for the first time a shunt he invented into a patient, which allows the patient to receive hemodialysis on a regular basis.

    Belding Hibbard Scribner ↗

  2. 1961

    Sputnik 9 successfully launches, carrying a dog and a human dummy, and demonstrating that the Soviet Union was ready to begin human spaceflight.

    Korabl-Sputnik 4 ↗

  3. 1974

    The Mars 7 Flyby bus releases the descent module too early, missing Mars.

    Mars 7 ↗

  4. 1997

    Comet Hale–Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day.

    Comet Hale–Bopp ↗

Every launch on March 9

17 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Long March 3B/E | TJSW-15CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2023Long March 4C | Tianhui-6 A/BCASCSUCCESS
  3. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | OneWeb 17SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 4-10SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2020Long March 3B | Beidou-3 G2CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2019Long March 3B/E | Zhongxing 6C (Chinasat 6C)CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2018Soyuz STB/Fregat | O3b FM13-16ASASUCCESS
  8. 2016Ariane 5 ECA | Eutelsat 65 West AASASUCCESS
  9. 2008Ariane 5 ES | ATV-1 "Jules Verne"ASASUCCESS
  10. 2007Atlas V 401 | STP-1ULASUCCESS
  11. 1996Pegasus XL | REX IIOSCSUCCESS
  12. 1992Kosmos-3M | Tsikada 18NPSUCCESS
  13. 1974Scout D-1 | MirandaSERCSUCCESS
  14. 1973Titan IIID | KH-9 5USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1966Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4A 30USAFSUCCESS
  16. 1965Thor SLV-2 Agena D | Poppy 6A,B,C,DUSAFSUCCESS
  17. 1961Vostok-K | Sputnik 9CCCPSUCCESS

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.