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April 20 in spaceflight

28 orbital launches flew on April 20, the earliest of them in 1964, and 25 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on April 20. Below are the pictures NASA published on April 20 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

28MISSIONS

25 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1964, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1865 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 20, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on April 20

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.

© Wright Dobbs — 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.

© Jeff Herman — 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.

© Stan Honda — 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 20

  1. 1865

    Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX's yacht, the L'Immaculata Concezion.

    Angelo Secchi ↗

  2. 1945

    Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.

    Nazi human experimentation ↗

  3. 1972

    Apollo program: The Apollo 16 Lunar Module Orion, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the Moon.

    Apollo program ↗

  4. 2007

    Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips barricades himself with a handgun in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, before killing a male hostage and himself.

    Johnson Space Center shooting ↗

  5. 2023

    SpaceX's Starship launched for the first time before exploding four minutes into flight.

    SpaceX ↗

  6. 2023

    SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes four minutes into flight.

    SpaceX Starship ↗

Every launch on April 20

28 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-145SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Long March 2D | Yaogan 42-02CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2023Starship | Integrated Flight TestSpXFAILURE
  4. 2019Long March 3B/E | Beidou-3 IGSO-1CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2017Long March 7 | Tianzhou-1CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2017Soyuz-FG | Soyuz MS-04RFSASUCCESS
  7. 2012Soyuz-U | Progress M-15M (47P)RFSASUCCESS
  8. 2011PSLV | Resourcesat-2ISROSUCCESS
  9. 2009Zenit 3SL | SICRAL 1BSLSUCCESS
  10. 2009PSLV | RISAT-2ISROSUCCESS
  11. 2006Atlas V 411 | Astra 1KRLMTSUCCESS
  12. 2004Delta II | Gravity Probe BUSAFSUCCESS
  13. 1996Ariane 42P | M-SAT 1ASASUCCESS
  14. 1990Kosmos-3M | Parus 69CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1989Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 45CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1988Vostok 8A92M | Resurs-O1 2CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1983Soyuz-U | Soyuz T-8CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 6CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1978Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKM 15CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1977Delta 2914 | Geos 1USAFFAILURE
  21. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 76CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1974Molniya-M | Molniya-1 27CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1973Delta 1914 | Anik A2USAFSUCCESS
  24. 1968Voskhod | Zenit-2 61CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1967Thor Delta E | ESSA 5USAFSUCCESS
  26. 1967Atlas SLV-3 | PRIME 3USAFSUCCESS
  27. 1966Vostok 8A92 | Zenit-2 37CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1964Molniya 8K78 | Luna-5bCCCPFAILURE

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.