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April 8 in spaceflight

26 orbital launches flew on April 8, the earliest of them in 1961, and 25 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 8 spaceflight and astronomy events on April 8. Below are the pictures NASA published on April 8 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

26MISSIONS

25 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

8ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1820 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 8, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on April 8

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.

© Stefan Seip — 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 April 8

  1. 1820

    The Venus de Milo (pictured), an ancient Greek statue of a woman with its arms missing, was discovered on the island of Milos.

    Venus de Milo ↗

  5. 2002

    The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-110, carrying the S0 truss to the International Space Station. Astronaut Jerry L. Ross also becomes the first person to fly on seven spaceflights.

    Space Shuttle Atlantis ↗

  6. 2005

    A solar eclipse occurs, visible over areas of the Pacific Ocean and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.

    Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005 ↗

  7. 2008

    On board Soyuz TMA-12, Yi So-yeon became the first Korean astronaut.

    Soyuz TMA-12 ↗

Every launch on April 8

26 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Long March 6A | SatNet LEO Group 21CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2025Soyuz 2.1a | Soyuz MS-27RFSASUCCESS
  3. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Axiom Space Mission 1SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2021Long March 4B | Shiyan-6-03CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2016Falcon 9 Full Thrust | SpX CRS-8SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2010Dnepr 1 | Cryosat-2ISCKSUCCESS
  7. 2008Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-12RFSASUCCESS
  8. 2003Titan IVB | Milstar 6USAFSUCCESS
  9. 2002Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-110USASUCCESS
  10. 1996Proton-K/DM-2M | Astra 1FKhSCSUCCESS
  11. 1993Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-56LSOCSUCCESS
  12. 1992Soyuz U | Yantar-4KS1M 2RFSASUCCESS
  13. 1987Tsiklon-2 | US-P 26CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1984Long March 3 | DFH-2 2CASCSUCCESS
  15. 1983Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 76CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1983Proton-K/DM | Raduga 12CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1982Kosmos-3M | Parus 32CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1975Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 76CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1970Titan IIIC | Vela 6A & 6BUSAFSUCCESS
  20. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4 70CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1970Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | Nimbus 4USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1967Proton / UR-500 K/D | Kosmos 154CCCPFAILURE
  23. 1966Atlas SLV-3 Agena D | OAO 1USAFSUCCESS
  24. 1966Atlas Centaur D | Surveyor M-2USAFSUCCESS
  25. 1964Titan II GLV | Gemini IUSAFSUCCESS
  26. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | KH-5 2USAFSUCCESS

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.