Skip to content
DELTA-V

ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR

June 8 in spaceflight

28 orbital launches flew on June 8, the earliest of them in 1961, and 27 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on June 8. Below are the pictures NASA published on June 8 in 2 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

28MISSIONS

27 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1950 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

2IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 8, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on June 8

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

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

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

What happened on June 8

  1. 1950

    Thomas Blamey became the only Australian to attain the rank of field marshal.

    Thomas Blamey ↗

  2. 1959

    USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.

    USS Barbero ↗

  3. 1966

    An F-104 Starfighter collides with XB-70 Valkyrie prototype no. 2, destroying both aircraft during a photo shoot near Edwards Air Force Base. Joseph A. Walker, a NASA test pilot, and Carl Cross, a United States Air Force test pilot, are both killed.

    Lockheed F-104 Starfighter ↗

  5. 2007

    Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-117 carrying two truss segments and solar arrays to the International Space Station.

    Space Shuttle Atlantis ↗

Every launch on June 8

28 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-35SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-8SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024SpaceShipTwo | Galactic 07VGSUCCESS
  4. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 8-8SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-1SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Nilesat-301SpXSUCCESS
  7. 2017Proton-M Briz-M | Echostar 21ILSSUCCESS
  8. 2007Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-117USASUCCESS
  9. 2007Delta II 7420-10 | COSMO-SkyMed 1ULASUCCESS
  10. 2003Soyuz U | Progress M1-10RFSASUCCESS
  11. 2001Kosmos-3M | Parus 92NPSUCCESS
  12. 1995Tsiklon-2 | US-PM 6RFSASUCCESS
  13. 1990Titan 405A | SLDCOM 1USAFSUCCESS
  14. 1989Molniya-M | Molniya-3 45LCCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1984Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 35CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1982Soyuz U | Yantar-4K1 4CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1982Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F41 18LCCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 9CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-4MK 79CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1976Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 61CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1975Titan IIID | KH-9 10USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1975Proton | Venera-9CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1973Kosmos-3M | Strela-1M 41-48CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1971Thor Burner 2 | SESP 1USAFSUCCESS
  25. 1967Voskhod | Zenit-2 50CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1966Voskhod | Zenit-2 39CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1965Molniya 8K78 | Luna-6CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | KH-5 3USAFFAILURE

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.