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April 15 in spaceflight

28 orbital launches flew on April 15, the earliest of them in 1960, and 26 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 1 spaceflight and astronomy event on April 15. Below are the pictures NASA published on April 15 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

28MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

1ENTRY

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1632 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 15, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on April 15

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.

© TWAN — 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

What happened on April 15

  1. 1632

    Thirty Years' War: A Swedish–German army defeated the forces of the Catholic League at the Battle of Rain, mortally wounding their commander Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly.

    Thirty Years' War ↗

Every launch on April 15

28 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-27SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Long March 2D | SuperView Neo 3-01CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Transporter 7 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare)SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2022Long March 4C | Daqi-1 (AEMS)CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2022Long March 3B | ChinaSat 6DCASCSUCCESS
  6. 2013Proton-M Briz-M | Anik-G1ILSSUCCESS
  7. 2011Atlas V 411 | NROL-34 (2 x NOSS (USA-229))ULASUCCESS
  8. 2010GSLV Mk II | GSAT-4 (HealthSat)ISROFAILURE
  9. 2006Minotaur I | COSMIC 1-6OSCSUCCESS
  10. 2005Pegasus XL | Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART)OSCSUCCESS
  11. 2005Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-6RFSASUCCESS
  12. 1999Delta II | Landsat 7USAFSUCCESS
  13. 1999Soyuz-U-PVB | Globalstar 19,42,44,45RFSASUCCESS
  14. 1992Ariane 44L | Télécom 2B & Inmarsat-2 F4ASASUCCESS
  15. 1992Kosmos-3M | Parus 76NPSUCCESS
  16. 1986Soyuz U | Zenit-8 30CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1984Soyuz-U2 | Progress 20CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1983Titan 24B | KH-8 53USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1982Soyuz U | Yantar-2K 25CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 36CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1971Diamant B | TournesolCNESSUCCESS
  22. 1970Titan 23B | KH-8 26USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4M 4CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1969Titan IIIB | KH-8 21USAFSUCCESS
  25. 1969Voskhod | Zenit-4 56CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1968Soyuz | Kosmos 213CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1960Thor Agena A | Discoverer 11USAFSUCCESS
  28. 1960Vostok-L 8K72 | Luna-4aCCCPFAILURE

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.