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June 16 in spaceflight

22 orbital launches flew on June 16, the earliest of them in 1961, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 9 spaceflight and astronomy events on June 16. Below are the pictures NASA published on June 16 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

22MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

9ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1925 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 16, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on June 16

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.

© Bernd Pröschold — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

© TWAN — 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.

NASA · public domain

What happened on June 16

  1. 1925

    Artek, the most famous Young Pioneer camp of the Soviet Union, is established.

    Artek (camp) ↗

  2. 1940

    World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Chief of State of Vichy France (Chef de l'État Français).

    World War II ↗

  3. 1963

    Aboard Vostok 6, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (pictured) became the first woman in space.

    Vostok 6 ↗

  4. 1963

    Soviet Space Program: Vostok 6 mission: Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.

    Soviet space program ↗

  5. 1972

    English musician David Bowie released his breakthrough album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

    David Bowie ↗

  7. 2012

    Liu Yang (pictured), a member of the Shenzhou 9 crew, became the first Chinese woman in space.

    Liu Yang (taikonaut) ↗

  8. 2012

    China successfully launches its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, including the first female Chinese astronaut Liu Yang, to the Tiangong-1 orbital module.

    Shenzhou 9 ↗

  9. 2012

    The United States Air Force's robotic Boeing X-37B spaceplane returns to Earth after a classified 469-day orbital mission.

    United States Air Force ↗

Every launch on June 16

22 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Long March 3B/E | Shijian 31CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2018Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Glonass-M No. 56 (Kosmos 2527)VKSSUCCESS
  3. 2012Long March 2F/G | Shenzhou-9 & Shenzhou-9-GCCASCSUCCESS
  4. 2005Soyuz U | Progress M-53RFSASUCCESS
  5. 2004Proton-M Briz-M | INTELSAT 10-02KhSCSUCCESS
  6. 2001Proton-K/DM-2M | Astra 2CKhSCSUCCESS
  7. 1993Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 51NPSUCCESS
  8. 1989Soyuz U | Zenit-8 82CCCPSUCCESS
  9. 1988Scout G-1 | Nova 2USAFSUCCESS
  10. 1987Kosmos-3M | Strela-1M 321-328CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1983Ariane 1 | ECS 1ASASUCCESS
  12. 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 18CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1978Delta 2914 | GOES 3USAFSUCCESS
  14. 1977Delta 2914 | GOES 2USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1977Molniya-M | US-K 7CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1976Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 62CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1967Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | KH-4A 42USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1967Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U3-S 1CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1966Titan IIIC | IDCSP 1 to 7USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1963Vostok-K | Vostok 6CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1963Scout X-3 | Transit-5A 3USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 25USAFSUCCESS

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.