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June 12 in spaceflight

27 orbital launches flew on June 12, the earliest of them in 1963, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on June 12. Below are the pictures NASA published on June 12 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

27MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1940 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 12, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on June 12

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.

© Robert Nemiroff — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

© Fred Espenak — 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.

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.

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.

© Elliot Severn — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on June 12

  1. 1940

    World War II: Thirteen thousand British and French troops surrender to General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.

    World War II ↗

  2. 1979

    Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man-powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross.

    Bryan Allen (hang glider) ↗

  3. 1994

    The Boeing 777, the world's largest twinjet, made its maiden flight.

    Boeing 777 ↗

  4. 2026

    South African-American businessman Elon Musk becomes the first US$ trillionaire with the initial public offering of SpaceX.

    Elon Musk ↗

Every launch on June 12

27 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-54SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2026H3-30 | H3-30 Test FlightMHISUCCESS
  3. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Transporter 8 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare)SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 5-11SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2022Astra Rocket 3 | TROPICS-1ASFAILURE
  6. 2021Simorgh | UnknownISAFAILURE
  7. 2019Falcon 9 Block 5 | RADARSAT ConstellationSpXSUCCESS
  8. 2018H-IIA 202 | IGS Radar 6MHISUCCESS
  9. 2016Long March 3C | Beidou-2 G7CASCSUCCESS
  10. 2008Ariane 5 ECA | Türksat 3A & Skynet 5CASASUCCESS
  11. 1990Delta 4925-8 | Insat 1DUSAFSUCCESS
  12. 1987Molniya-M | US-K 54CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1986Tsiklon-3 | Tselina-D 56CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1982Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 60CCCPFAILURE
  15. 1980Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 20CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-2M/NKh 3CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1978Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKM 18CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1975Soyuz U | Zenit-4MK 44CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1975Delta 2910 | Nimbus 6USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1973Titan IIIC | DSP 4USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1970Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 33CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1970Europa I | STV 3 (ELDO F9)ELDOFAILURE
  23. 1968Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-1 10CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1967Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 8CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1967Molniya-M | Venera-4CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1963Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4 21USAFSUCCESS
  27. 1963Atlas Agena B | Midas 8USAFFAILURE

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.