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March 23 in spaceflight

13 orbital launches flew on March 23, the earliest of them in 1960, and 11 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on March 23. Below are the pictures NASA published on March 23 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

13MISSIONS

11 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1965 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 23, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on March 23

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.

© Roberto Marinoni — used with the credit NASA publishes

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 March 23

  1. 1965

    NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

    NASA ↗

  2. 2001

    The Russian space agency deorbited the space station Mir, causing it to reenter the Earth's atmosphere and break up over the Pacific Ocean.

    Roscosmos ↗

  3. 2001

    The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

    Mir ↗

Every launch on March 23

13 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Soyuz 2.1b | 16 x Rassvet-3RFSASUCCESS
  2. 2024Soyuz 2.1a | Soyuz MS-25RFSASUCCESS
  3. 2023Soyuz 2.1a | Kosmos 2567 (Bars-M No. 4)VKSSUCCESS
  4. 2023Terran 1 | Good Luck, Have Fun (Maiden Flight)RSFAILURE
  5. 2016Atlas V 401 | Cygnus CRS OA-6 (S.S. Rick Husband)ULASUCCESS
  6. 2014Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat | Glonass-M (Kosmos 2494)VKOSUCCESS
  7. 2012Ariane 5 ES | Edoardo Amaldi ATV (ATV-003)ASASUCCESS
  8. 1989Soyuz U | Yantar-4KS1 12CCCPSUCCESS
  9. 1988Soyuz-U2 | Progress 35CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1983Proton-K/D-1 | AstronCCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1967Thor Delta E1 | INTELSAT II F-3USAFSUCCESS
  12. 1965Titan II GLV | Gemini IIINASASUCCESS
  13. 1960Juno II | NASA S-46NASAFAILURE

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.