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May 5 in spaceflight

23 orbital launches flew on May 5, the earliest of them in 1961, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on May 5. Below are the pictures NASA published on May 5 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

23MISSIONS

22 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2022.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

2ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1961 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 5, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on May 5

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.

NASA · public domain

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.

© Mark Hanson — 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 May 5

  1. 1961

    Project Mercury: American astronaut Alan Shepard made a sub-orbital spaceflight on board Freedom 7, becoming the second person to travel into outer space.

    Project Mercury ↗

  2. 1961

    Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.

    Project Mercury ↗

Every launch on May 5

23 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2022Long March 2D | Jilin-1 Wideband-01C & High Resolution 03D-27 to 33CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2021Starship SN15 | 10 km FlightSpXSUCCESS
  3. 2020Long March 5B | Maiden FlightCASCSUCCESS
  4. 2019Electron | That's a Funny Looking Cactus (STP-27RD)RLSUCCESS
  5. 2018Atlas V 401 | InSight, Mars Cube One 1 & Mars Cube One 2ULASUCCESS
  6. 2017GSLV Mk II | SouthAsiaSat (GSAT-9)ISROSUCCESS
  7. 2009Delta II 7920-10C | STSS-ATRR/GMD (USA-205)ULASUCCESS
  8. 2005PSLV | Cartosat-1ISROSUCCESS
  9. 1999Delta 8930 | Orion 3USAFFAILURE
  10. 1997Delta II | Iridium 04 to 08USAFSUCCESS
  11. 1996Soyuz U | Progress M-31RFSASUCCESS
  12. 1990Soyuz-U2 | Progress 42CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1989Soyuz-U-PVB | Zenit-8 80CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1987Soyuz U | Zenit-8 47CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1982Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 35CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1978Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 88CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-4MK 77CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1976Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 59CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1973Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 12CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1972Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 7CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1971Titan IIIC | DSP 2USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1967Scout A | Ariel 3SERCSUCCESS
  23. 1961Redstone MRLV | Mercury-Redstone 3NASASUCCESS

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.