Launches
ON RECORD11MISSIONS
10 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1967, the most recent 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
May 16 in spaceflight
11 orbital launches flew on May 16, the earliest of them in 1967, and 10 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on May 16. Below are the pictures NASA published on May 16 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 1842 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED6IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 16, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on May 16
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.
© Wright Dobbs — used with the credit NASA publishes
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
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 16
1842
The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.
Wagon train ↗2011
STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.
STS-134 ↗
Every launch on May 16
11 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-5SpXSUCCESS
- 2024Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Kosmos 2576VKSSUCCESS
- 2015Proton-M Briz-M | Mexsat-1ILSFAILURE
- 2011Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-134USASUCCESS
- 2009Proton-M Briz-M | SES-7 (Indostar 2/ProtoStar 2)ILSSUCCESS
- 2000Rokot / Briz-KM | SimSat 1 & 2ELSSUCCESS
- 1996Ariane 44L | Palapa C2 & AMOS 1ASASUCCESS
- 1991Tsiklon-3 | Strela-3 61 to 66CCCPSUCCESS
- 1978Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKM 16CCCPSUCCESS
- 1973Titan 24B | KH-8 38USAFSUCCESS
- 1967Molniya-M | Ye-6LS 111CCCPSUCCESS
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.
- 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.