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April 9 in spaceflight

23 orbital launches flew on April 9, the earliest of them in 1962, and 21 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on April 9. Below are the pictures NASA published on April 9 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

23MISSIONS

21 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1962, the most recent 2024.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1959 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

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

Published on April 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.

© Stan Honda — 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

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.

© Damian Peach — 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.

© Robert Gendler — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on April 9

  1. 1959

    NASA announced the selection of the Mercury Seven, the first astronauts in Project Mercury.

    NASA ↗

  2. 1959

    Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

    Project Mercury ↗

  4. 2020

    Soyuz MS-16 is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the Expedition 62/63 crew to the International Space Station.

    Soyuz MS-16 ↗

  5. 2021

    Soyuz MS-18 is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying three members of the Expedition 64 crew to the International Space Station.

    Soyuz MS-18 ↗

Every launch on April 9

23 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2024Delta IV Heavy | NROL-70ULASUCCESS
  2. 2021Soyuz 2.1a | Soyuz MS-18RFSASUCCESS
  3. 2020Long March 3B | Nusantara DuaCASCFAILURE
  4. 2020Soyuz 2.1a | Soyuz MS-16RFSASUCCESS
  5. 2014Shavit-2 | Ofeq-10IAISUCCESS
  6. 2014Soyuz-U | Progress M-23M (55P)RFSASUCCESS
  7. 2011Long March 3A | Compass-IGSO-3CASCSUCCESS
  8. 2007Proton-M Briz-M | Anik F3KhSCSUCCESS
  9. 2003Ariane 5 G | INSAT-3A & Galaxy 12ASASUCCESS
  10. 1999Titan 402B IUS | DSP 19USAFFAILURE
  11. 1997Molniya-M | US-K 77PRSCSUCCESS
  12. 1995Soyuz U | Progress M-27RFSASUCCESS
  13. 1994Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-59LSOCSUCCESS
  14. 1987Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 30CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1986Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 22CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1981Kosmos-3M | Taifun-1 13CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1980Soyuz-U | Soyuz 35CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1976Voskhod | Zenit-2M 66CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1975Delta 1410 | Geos 3USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1969Voskhod | Zenit-2 73CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1968Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 12CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1965Blue Scout Jr | OAR 22-9USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1962Atlas Agena B | Midas 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.