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June 29 in spaceflight

36 orbital launches flew on June 29, the earliest of them in 1960, and 33 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on June 29. Below are the pictures NASA published on June 29 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

36MISSIONS

33 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1971 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 29, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on June 29

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.

© TWAN — 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 29

  1. 1971

    The Soyuz 11 spacecraft experienced uncontrolled decompression during preparations for reentry, killing Soviet cosmonauts Vladislav Volkov, Georgy Dobrovolsky and Viktor Patsayev—the only human deaths to have occurred in space.

    Soyuz 11 ↗

  2. 1971

    Prior to re-entry (following a record-setting stay aboard the Soviet Union's Salyut 1 space station), the crew capsule of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft depressurizes, killing the three cosmonauts on board. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to die in space.

    Soviet Union ↗

  3. 1995

    Atlantis became the first U.S. Space Shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir as part of the Shuttle–Mir program.

    Space Shuttle Atlantis ↗

  4. 1995

    Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (Atlantis) docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time.

    Space Shuttle program ↗

Every launch on June 29

36 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Sirius SXM-11SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025New Shepard | NS-33BOSUCCESS
  3. 2024Long March 7A | ChinaSat 3ACASCSUCCESS
  4. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-186SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2023SpaceShipTwo | Galactic 01VGSUCCESS
  6. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | SES-22SpXSUCCESS
  7. 2021Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-17 (78P)RFSASUCCESS
  8. 2019SARGE | Launch 3EXOSPARTIAL
  9. 2019Electron | Make It Rain (Rideshare)RLSUCCESS
  10. 2018MOMO | Launch 2ISTECHFAILURE
  11. 2018Falcon 9 Block 4 | SpX CRS-15SpXSUCCESS
  12. 2016Long March 4B | Shijian 16-02CASCSUCCESS
  13. 2012Delta IV Heavy | NROL-15 (Mentor) (USA-237)ULASUCCESS
  14. 2012SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF18VGSUCCESS
  15. 2007Zenit 2M | Tselina-2 23RFSASUCCESS
  16. 2004Dnepr | Aprizesat-2ISCKSUCCESS
  17. 2004Zenit | Telstar 18SLSUCCESS
  18. 1991Scout G-1 | REXUSAFSUCCESS
  19. 1984Soyuz U | Zenit-8 2CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1984Tsiklon-2 | US-A 24CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1982Kosmos-3M | Nadezhda 1CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1980Soyuz U | Progress 10CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 9CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1978Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Comstar 1CUSAFSUCCESS
  25. 1977Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-Priroda 2-2CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1976Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 12CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1976Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 63CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1974Molniya-M | US-K 3CCCPSUCCESS
  29. 1974Soyuz 11A511M | Zenit-4MT 6CCCPSUCCESS
  30. 1972Molniya-M | Prognoz-2CCCPSUCCESS
  31. 1969Thor Delta N | Biosat 3USAFSUCCESS
  32. 1967Thor Burner 2 | Aurora 1 & SECOR 9USAFSUCCESS
  33. 1965X-15 | Flight 138USAFSUCCESS
  34. 1963Thor SLV-2A Agena B | P-698BK Group 1-D 2USAFSUCCESS
  35. 1961Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Transit 4A & Injun-1 & Solrad 3USAFSUCCESS
  36. 1960Thor Agena A | Discoverer 12USAFFAILURE

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.