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May 20 in spaceflight

31 orbital launches flew on May 20, the earliest of them in 1965, and 29 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 7 spaceflight and astronomy events on May 20. Below are the pictures NASA published on May 20 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

31MISSIONS

29 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1965, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

7ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1217 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

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

Published on May 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.

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.

© Maxime Oudoux — 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.

© Martin Dufour — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on May 20

  1. 1217

    First Barons' War: English forces under William Marshal defeated French troops at the Battle of Lincoln.

    First Barons' War ↗

  2. 1217

    The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.

    Battle of Lincoln (1217) ↗

  3. 1570

    Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.

    Cartography ↗

  4. 1811

    A British squadron under Charles Marsh Schomberg defeated a French force off Tamatave, Madagascar, that was attempting to reinforce the French garrison on Mauritius.

    Charles Marsh Schomberg ↗

  5. 1932

    Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.

    Amelia Earhart ↗

  6. 1956

    In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

    Operation Redwing ↗

Every launch on May 20

31 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-42SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Long March 7A | ChinaSat 3BCASCSUCCESS
  3. 2024Long March 2D | Beijing 3CCASCSUCCESS
  4. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Iridium-9 & OneWeb 19SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2022Long March 2C/YZ-1S | RSW-04 - 06CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2020H-IIB 304 | Kounotori 9 (HTV-9)MHISUCCESS
  7. 2018Long March 4C | Queqiao (Chang'e 4 relay satellite)CASCSUCCESS
  8. 2015Atlas V 501 | OTV-4 (X-37B) (USA 261) (AFSPC-5) & ULTRASat cubesat deployerULASUCCESS
  9. 2011Ariane 5 ECA | ST-2 & INSAT-4G/GSAT-8ASASUCCESS
  10. 2011Proton-M / Briz-M Enhanced | Telstar 14RILSSUCCESS
  11. 2010H-IIA 202 | Akatsuki (Planet-C)MHISUCCESS
  12. 2005Delta II | NOAA 18USAFSUCCESS
  13. 2004Taurus 3210 | Formosat-2OSCSUCCESS
  14. 2001Soyuz-FG | Progress M1-6RFSASUCCESS
  15. 1999Proton-K/DM-2M | Nimiq 1KhSCSUCCESS
  16. 1997Delta II | Thor IIUSAFSUCCESS
  17. 1997Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 19RFSAFAILURE
  18. 1995Proton | SpektrKhSCSUCCESS
  19. 1994Proton | Rimsat G2KhSCSUCCESS
  20. 1992ASLV | SROSS-CISROSUCCESS
  21. 1982Molniya-M | US-K 26CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1980Kosmos-3M | Parus 24CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1978Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Pioneer Venus OrbiterUSAFSUCCESS
  24. 1976Voskhod | Zenit-2M 67CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1975Titan IIIC | DSCS-2 5 & 6USAFSUCCESS
  26. 1972Titan 24B | KH-8 35USAFFAILURE
  27. 1970Thorad SLV-2H Agena D | KH-4B 10USAFSUCCESS
  28. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4 71CCCPSUCCESS
  29. 1969Voskhod | Zenit-4 57CCCPSUCCESS
  30. 1968R-36O 8K69 | OGCh 18CCCPSUCCESS
  31. 1965Thor Burner 1 | OPS 8386USAFSUCCESS

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.