Launches
ON RECORD10MISSIONS
9 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1976, the most recent 2026.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
April 30 in spaceflight
10 orbital launches flew on April 30, the earliest of them in 1976, and 9 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on April 30. Below are the pictures NASA published on April 30 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 1006 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED6IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 30, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on April 30
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.
NASA · public domain
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.
© Drew Evans — 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.
© Alice Ross — used with the credit NASA publishes
What happened on April 30
1006
SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, first appeared in the constellation Lupus.
SN 1006 ↗1897
J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.
J. J. Thomson ↗1961
K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.
Soviet submarine K-19 ↗
Every launch on April 30
10 launches
ONLINE
- 2026Soyuz-5 | Demo FlightRSCSUCCESS
- 2026Ariane 64 | Amazon Leo (LE-02)ASASUCCESS
- 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-36SpXSUCCESS
- 2022Long March 11 | Jilin-1 HR-03D-04 to 07 & 04ACASCSUCCESS
- 2021Long March 4C | Yaogan 34CASCSUCCESS
- 2014Vega | KazEOSat 1ASASUCCESS
- 2005Titan 405B | NROL-16USAFSUCCESS
- 1999Titan IVB | Milstar 3USAFFAILURE
- 1996Atlas I | BeppoSAXGDSUCCESS
- 1976Atlas F/MSD | Parcae 1A,B,C & MSD 1USAFSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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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.