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March 31 in spaceflight

27 orbital launches flew on March 31, the earliest of them in 1966, and 26 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on March 31. Below are the pictures NASA published on March 31 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

27MISSIONS

26 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1966, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1966 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 31, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on March 31

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 March 31

  1. 1966

    The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.

    Soviet Union ↗

  2. 1970

    Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.

    Explorer 1 ↗

  3. 2005

    The dwarf planet Makemake is discovered by a team led by astronomer Michael E. Brown at the Palomar Observatory.

    Dwarf planet ↗

  4. 2016

    NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko return to Earth after a yearlong mission at the International Space Station.

    NASA ↗

  5. 2023

    A tornado caused the collapse of a venue hosting a sold-out concert in Belvidere, Illinois, United States, resulting in one death and 48 injuries.

    Belvidere Apollo Theatre collapse ↗

Every launch on March 31

27 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-80SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Soyuz 2.1b | Resurs-P No.4RFSASUCCESS
  3. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-45SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2023Long March 4C | Yaogan 34-04CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2022New Shepard | NS-20BOSUCCESS
  6. 2019Long March 3B/E | Tianlian 2-01CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2018Long March 4C | Gaofen 1-02, 1-03 & 1-04CASCSUCCESS
  8. 2016Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-02 (63P)RFSASUCCESS
  9. 2015Rokot / Briz-KM | Gonets M-21, Gonets M-22, Gonets M-23, Kosmos 2504VKOSUCCESS
  10. 2014Long March 2C | Shijian 11-06CASCSUCCESS
  11. 2012Long March 3B/E | APStar-7CASCSUCCESS
  12. 2003Delta II | GPS IIR-9USAFSUCCESS
  13. 1993Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-17RFSASUCCESS
  14. 1991Proton | Almaz-1CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1988Proton-K/DM | Gorizont 15CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1987Proton | KvantCCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1983Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 75CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1982Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 34CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1982Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 41CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1981Molniya-M | US-K 20CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 96CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1978Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Intelsat-4A 6USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1978Kosmos-3M | Tsikada 4CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1976Soyuz 11A511M | Zenit-4MT 10CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1972Molniya-M | Venera-9aCCCPFAILURE
  26. 1966Molniya-M | Luna-10CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1966Thor Burner 1 | DSAP-2 F3USAFSUCCESS

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.