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May 22 in spaceflight

29 orbital launches flew on May 22, the earliest of them in 1963, and 27 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on May 22. Below are the pictures NASA published on May 22 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

Launches

ON RECORD

29MISSIONS

27 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1963, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 760 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 22, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on May 22

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.

The Nebulous Realm of WR 134

2026

The Nebulous Realm of WR 134

This cosmic snapshot covers a field of view over twice as wide as the full Moon within the boundaries of the high-flying constellation Cygnus. Made using astronomical narrowband filters, the image highlights the bright edge of a ring-like nebula traced by the glow of ionized hydrogen and oxygen gas. Embedded in the region's expanse of interstellar clouds, the complex, glowing arcs are sections of shells of material swept up by the wind from Wolf-Rayet star WR 134, the brightest star near image center. Distance estimates put WR 134 about 6,000 light-years away, making this telescopic frame over 100 light-years across. Shedding their outer envelopes in powerful stellar winds, massive Wolf-Rayet stars have burned through their nuclear fuel at a prodigious rate and end their final phase of massive star evolution in a spectacular supernova. Their stellar winds and final supernova explosion enrich the interstellar material with heavy elements to be incorporated in future generations of stars.

© Luigi Morrone — used with the credit NASA publishes

Curly Spiral Galaxy M63

2025

Curly Spiral Galaxy M63

A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is nearby, about 30 million light-years distant toward the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our own Milky Way. Its bright core and majestic spiral arms lend the galaxy its popular name, The Sunflower Galaxy. This exceptionally deep exposure also follows faint loops and curling star streams far into the galaxy's halo. Extending nearly 180,000 light-years from the galactic center, the star streams are likely remnants of tidally disrupted satellites of M63. Other satellite galaxies of M63 can be spotted in the remarkable wide-field image, including dwarf galaxies, which could contribute to M63's star streams in the next few billion years.

© Alberto Pisabarro — used with the credit NASA publishes

Green Aurora over Sweden

2024

Green Aurora over Sweden

It was bright and green and stretched across the sky. This striking aurora display was captured in 2016 just outside of Östersund, Sweden. Six photographic fields were merged to create the featured panorama spanning almost 180 degrees. Particularly striking aspects of this aurora include its sweeping arc-like shape and its stark definition. Lake Storsjön is seen in the foreground, while several familiar constellations and the star Polaris are visible through the aurora, far in the background. Coincidently, the aurora appears to avoid the Moon visible on the lower left. The aurora appeared a day after a large hole opened in the Sun's corona, allowing particularly energetic particles to flow out into the Solar System. The green color of the aurora is caused by oxygen atoms recombining with ambient electrons high in the Earth's atmosphere. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)

© Göran Strand — used with the credit NASA publishes

Supernova Discovered in Nearby Spiral Galaxy M101

2023

Supernova Discovered in Nearby Spiral Galaxy M101

A nearby star has exploded and humanity's telescopes are turning to monitor it. The supernova, dubbed SN 2023ixf, was discovered by Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki three days ago and subsequently located on automated images from the Zwicky Transient Facility two days earlier. SN 2023ixf occurred in the photogenic Pinwheel Galaxy M101, which, being only about 21 million light years away, makes it the closest supernova seen in the past five years, the second closest in the past 10 years, and the second supernova found in M101 in the past 15 years. Rapid follow up observations already indicate that SN 2023ixf is a Type II supernova, an explosion that occurs after a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses. The featured image shows home spiral galaxy two days ago with the supernova highlighted, while the roll-over image shows the same galaxy a month before. SN 2023ixf will likely brighten and remain visible to telescopes for months. Studying such a close and young Type II supernova may yield new clues about massive stars and how they explode.

© Craig Stocks — used with the credit NASA publishes

A Large Tsunami Shock Wave on the Sun

2022

A Large Tsunami Shock Wave on the Sun

Tsunamis this large don't happen on Earth. During 2006, a large solar flare from an Earth-sized sunspot produced a tsunami-type shock wave that was spectacular even for the Sun. Pictured here, the tsunami wave was captured moving out from active region AR 10930 by the Optical Solar Patrol Network (OSPAN) telescope in New Mexico, USA. The resulting shock wave, known technically as a Moreton wave, compressed and heated up gasses including hydrogen in the photosphere of the Sun, causing a momentarily brighter glow. The featured image was taken in a very specific red color emitted exclusively by hydrogen gas. The rampaging tsunami took out some active filaments on the Sun, although many re-established themselves later. The solar tsunami spread at nearly one million kilometers per hour, and circled the entire Sun in a matter of minutes.

NASA · public domain

Markarian's Chain

2021

Markarian's Chain

Near the heart of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster the string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain stretches across this deep telescopic field of view. Anchored in the frame at bottom center by prominent lenticular galaxies, M84 (bottom) and M86, you can follow the chain up and to the right. Near center you'll spot the pair of interacting galaxies NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, known to some as Markarian's Eyes. Its center an estimated 50 million light-years distant, the Virgo Cluster itself is the nearest galaxy cluster. With up to about 2,000 member galaxies, it has a noticeable gravitational influence on our own Local Group of Galaxies. Within the Virgo Cluster at least seven galaxies in Markarian's Chain appear to move coherently, although others may appear to be part of the chain by chance.

© Ginge Anvik — used with the credit NASA publishes

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What happened on May 22

  2. 1844

    In Shiraz, Iran, the Báb declared himself to be a messenger of God to Mullá Husayn, leading to the foundation of Bábism, considered to be a precursor to the Baháʼí Faith.

    Shiraz ↗

  3. 1906

    The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".

    Wright brothers ↗

  4. 1969

    Apollo 10's Lunar Module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the Moon's surface.

    Apollo 10 ↗

  5. 2002

    Police announced that the skeletal remains of Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy, who had been missing for a year, had been found in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.

    Federal Bureau of Prisons ↗

  6. 2012

    SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2 launches a Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket in the first commercial flight to the International Space Station.

    SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2 ↗

Every launch on May 22

29 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Starship | Flight 12SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2026Electron | Viva La StriX (StriX Launch 9)RLSUCCESS
  3. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-146SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2021SpaceShipTwo | VSS Unity VF-03VGSUCCESS
  5. 2020Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat | EKS 4 (Tundra 4) (Kosmos 2546)VKSSUCCESS
  6. 2019Long March 4C | Yaogan-33CASCFAILURE
  7. 2019PSLV-CA | RISAT-2BISROSUCCESS
  8. 2018Falcon 9 Block 4 | Iridium-6 & GRACE-FOSpXSUCCESS
  9. 2014Atlas V 401 | NROL-33 (Quasar)ULASUCCESS
  10. 2012Falcon 9 v1.0 | SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2SpXSUCCESS
  11. 2005Proton-M Briz-M | DirecTV-8KhSCSUCCESS
  12. 1999Titan 404B | NROL-9USAFSUCCESS
  13. 1994Soyuz U | Progress M-23RFSASUCCESS
  14. 1993Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-18RFSASUCCESS
  15. 1990Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 7CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1985Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F41 52LCCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1984Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 25CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1981Delta 3914 | GOES 5USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 17CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1979Proton | TKS-VA 9 & 10CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1976Scout B-1 | WidebandUSAFSUCCESS
  22. 1975Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | INTELSAT IV F1USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1971Kosmos-3M | Zaliv 8CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1970Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 32CCCPFAILURE
  25. 1969Thor Delta M | INTELSAT III F-4USAFSUCCESS
  26. 1967Atlas SLV-3 Agena D | KH-7 37USAFSUCCESS
  27. 1967Voskhod | Zenit-4 29CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1965Atlas D | FIRE 2USAFSUCCESS
  29. 1963Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-A1 2CCCPSUCCESS

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.

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