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June 6 in spaceflight

21 orbital launches flew on June 6, the earliest of them in 1964, and 21 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on June 6. Below are the pictures NASA published on June 6 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

21MISSIONS

21 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1964, the most recent 2024.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1944 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 6, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on June 6

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.

© Mike Selby — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

© Lóránd Fényes — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

NASA · public domain

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 June 6

  1. 1944

    World War II: Commencement of Operation Overlord: The Allied invasion of Normandy begins with the execution of Operation Neptune—commonly referred to as D-Day—the largest seaborne invasion in history. Nearly 160,000 Allied troops cross the English Channel with about 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers participating. By the end of the day, the Allies have landed on five invasion beaches and are pushing inland.

    Operation Overlord ↗

  2. 1971

    Soyuz 11 is launched. The mission ends in disaster when all three cosmonauts, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev are suffocated by uncontrolled decompression of the capsule during re-entry on 29 June.

    Soyuz 11 ↗

  3. 2002

    Eastern Mediterranean event. A near-Earth asteroid estimated at ten meters in diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. The explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.

    2002 Eastern Mediterranean event ↗

Every launch on June 6

21 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2024Starship | Integrated Flight Test 4SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Ceres-1 | 3 satellitesGESUCCESS
  3. 2021Falcon 9 Block 5 | Sirius SXM-8SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2018Soyuz-FG | Soyuz MS-09RFSASUCCESS
  5. 2003Proton-K/Briz-M | AMC 9KhSCSUCCESS
  6. 2000Proton-K/Briz-M | Gorizont 33KhSCSUCCESS
  7. 1997Proton-K/17S40 | Araks-N 1KhSCSUCCESS
  8. 1986Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 23CCCPSUCCESS
  9. 1986Kosmos-3M | Strela-1M 305-312CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1985Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz T-13CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1984Molniya-M | US-K 34CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1982Kosmos-3M | DS-P1-M 16CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1980Kosmos-3M | Taifun-2 7CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1980Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F41 12LCCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1979Thor DSV-2U | DMSP-5D1 F4USAFSUCCESS
  16. 1979Soyuz U | Soyuz-34CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1974Titan 24B | KH-8 42USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1974Voskhod | Zenit-2M 48CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1973Voskhod | Zenit-4M 49CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1971Soyuz | Soyuz 11CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1964Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-MT 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.