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May 15 in spaceflight

34 orbital launches flew on May 15, the earliest of them in 1958, and 30 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on May 15. Below are the pictures NASA published on May 15 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

34MISSIONS

30 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1958, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1836 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 15, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on May 15

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.

© Marcella Giulia Pace — 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 15

  1. 1836

    English astronomer Francis Baily observed Baily's beads (example pictured), a phenomenon during a solar eclipse in which the rugged topography of the lunar limb allows sunlight to shine through.

    Francis Baily ↗

  2. 1836

    Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.

    Francis Baily ↗

  3. 1963

    Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.

    Project Mercury ↗

Every launch on May 15

34 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Dragon CRS-2 SpX-34SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2026Kinetica 1 | 5 satellitesCASSUCCESS
  3. 2021Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink 26SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2021Electron | Running Out of Toes (BlackSky 8-9)RLFAILURE
  5. 2017Falcon 9 Full Thrust | Inmarsat-5 F4SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2016Long March 2D | Yaogan-30CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2014Proton-M Briz-M | Ekspress-AM4RKhSCFAILURE
  8. 2013Atlas V 401 | GPS IIF-4 (USA-242)ULASUCCESS
  9. 2012Ariane 5 ECA | JCSAT-13 & Vinasat-2ASASUCCESS
  10. 2012Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-04MRFSASUCCESS
  11. 2002Long March 4B | Hai Yang 1 & Feng Yun 1DCASCSUCCESS
  12. 2001Proton-K/DM-2M | PAS 10KhSCSUCCESS
  13. 1997Soyuz U | Orlets-1 6RFSASUCCESS
  14. 1997Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-84USASUCCESS
  15. 1990Soyuz U | Yantar-1KFT 12CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1988Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 5CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1987Energiya | PolyusCCCPFAILURE
  18. 1987Atlas H | Parcae 9A,B,C & MSD 9USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1986Tsiklon-3 | Tselina-D 55CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1985Soyuz U | Zenit-8 15CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1982Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 57CCCPFAILURE
  22. 1981Scout G-1 | Nova 1USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1980Soyuz U | Zenit-4MT 18CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKM 30CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1976Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-Priroda 2-1CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1974Voskhod | Zenit-2M 47CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1974Soyuz U | Zenit-4MK 25CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1974Tsiklon-2 | US-A 7CCCPSUCCESS
  29. 1967Kosmos-3M | Zaliv-GVM 1CCCPSUCCESS
  30. 1966Thor SLV-2A Agena B | Nimbus 2USAFSUCCESS
  31. 1963Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 9NASASUCCESS
  32. 1962Thor DM-21 Agena-B | KH-5 5USAFSUCCESS
  33. 1960Vostok 8K72 | Korabl'-Sputnik-1CCCPSUCCESS
  34. 1958Sputnik 8A91 | D1- 2CCCPSUCCESS

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.