Launches
ON RECORD17MISSIONS
16 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2026.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
April 16 in spaceflight
17 orbital launches flew on April 16, the earliest of them in 1960, and 16 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on April 16. Below are the pictures NASA published on April 16 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD3ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1912 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED6IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 16, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on April 16
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
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.
© Kiko Fairbairn — used with the credit NASA publishes
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
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
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
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.
© Starry Earth — used with the credit NASA publishes
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 16
1912
American pilot Harriet Quimby (pictured) became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
Harriet Quimby ↗1912
Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
Harriet Quimby ↗
Every launch on April 16
17 launches
ONLINE
- 2026Soyuz 2.1b/Volga | Kosmos 2609-2614VKSSUCCESS
- 2025Minotaur IV | NROL-174NGSSSUCCESS
- 2023Long March 4B | Fengyun-3GCASCSUCCESS
- 2014Soyuz-U | EgyptSat 2 / ايجيبت ساتRFSASUCCESS
- 2010Soyuz-U | Kobalt-M (Kosmos 2462)VKSSUCCESS
- 2008Pegasus XL | Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS)OSCSUCCESS
- 2004Atlas IIAS | Superbird A2LMTSUCCESS
- 2002Ariane 44L | NSS 7ASASUCCESS
- 1997Ariane 44LP | Thaicom 3 & BSat 1aASASUCCESS
- 1993Tsiklon-3 | Tselina-R 4VKSSUCCESS
- 1991Kosmos-3M | Parus 72CCCPSUCCESS
- 1987Soyuz U | Yantar-4KS1 7CCCPSUCCESS
- 1985Soyuz U | Foton 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 37CCCPSUCCESS
- 1975Soyuz U | Zenit-4MK 40CCCPSUCCESS
- 1972Saturn V | Apollo 16NASASUCCESS
- 1960Vostok-L 8K72 | Luna-4bCCCPFAILURE
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
SPONSORED
General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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- VIEW
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.
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.