Launches
ON RECORD21MISSIONS
17 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1962, the most recent 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
April 18 in spaceflight
21 orbital launches flew on April 18, the earliest of them in 1962, and 17 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 1 spaceflight and astronomy event on April 18. Below are the pictures NASA published on April 18 in 2 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD1ENTRY
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1915 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED2IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 18, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on April 18
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
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.
NASA · public domain
What happened on April 18
1915
World War I: Hit by ground fire, French aviation pioneer Roland Garros (pictured) landed his aircraft behind enemy lines and was taken prisoner by German forces.
World War I ↗
Every launch on April 18
21 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Long March 6A | Shiyan 27 01-06CASCSUCCESS
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-52SpXSUCCESS
- 2018Falcon 9 Block 4 | TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)SpXSUCCESS
- 2018Proton-M/Briz-M | Blagovest No.12L (Kosmos 2526)KhSCSUCCESS
- 2017Atlas V 401 | Cygnus CRS OA-7 (S.S. John Glenn)ULASUCCESS
- 2014Falcon 9 v1.1 | SpX CRS-3SpXSUCCESS
- 2008Ariane 5 ECA | Star One C2 & Vinasat-1ASASUCCESS
- 2004Long March 2C | Shiyan Weixing 1CASCSUCCESS
- 2001GSLV | GSAT-1ISROFAILURE
- 1991Atlas I | BS-3HGDFAILURE
- 1986Molniya-M | Molniya-3 43LCCCPSUCCESS
- 1986Titan 34D | KH-9 20USAFFAILURE
- 1985Tsiklon-2 | US-P 21CCCPSUCCESS
- 1980Molniya-M | Molniya-3 26LCCCPFAILURE
- 1980Tsiklon-2 | IS-A 10CCCPSUCCESS
- 1979Tsiklon-2 | US-P 6CCCPSUCCESS
- 1975Titan 24B | KH-8 44USAFSUCCESS
- 1975Voskhod | Zenit-2M 56CCCPSUCCESS
- 1968Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U1-ACCCPSUCCESS
- 1968Voskhod | Zenit-4 40CCCPSUCCESS
- 1962Thor DM-21 Agena-B | KH-4 2USAFSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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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.
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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.
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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.