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July 5 in spaceflight

23 orbital launches flew on July 5, the earliest of them in 1966, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on July 5. Below are the pictures NASA published on July 5 in 4 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

23MISSIONS

22 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1966, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1946 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

4IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for July 5, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on July 5

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

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.

© Gianni Tumino — 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

What happened on July 5

  1. 1946

    Named after Bikini Atoll, the site of the nuclear-weapons test Operation Crossroads in the Marshall Islands, the modern bikini was introduced at a fashion show in Paris.

    Bikini Atoll ↗

  2. 2006

    The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting hours after North Korea reportedly tested at least seven ballistic missiles.

    United Nations Security Council ↗

  3. 2016

    The Juno space probe arrives at Jupiter and begins a 20-month survey of the planet.

    Juno (spacecraft) ↗

  4. 2023

    The last Ariane 5 rocket is launched, carrying the Heinrich Hertz and Syracuse 4B satellites.

    Ariane 5 ↗

Every launch on July 5

23 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Long March 8A | SpaceSail Polar Group #14CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-50SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2023Ariane 5 ECA+ | Syracuse 4B & Heinrich Hertz (H2Sat)ASASUCCESS
  4. 2019Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat | Meteor-M No.2-2 & rideshare payloadsRFSASUCCESS
  5. 2017Falcon 9 Full Thrust | Intelsat 35eSpXSUCCESS
  6. 2012Ariane 5 ECA | Echostar XVII & MSG-3ASASUCCESS
  7. 2007Long March 3B | Zhongxing 6BCASCSUCCESS
  8. 2005Long March 2D | Shi Jian 7CASCSUCCESS
  9. 2002Ariane 5 G | Stellat 5 & N-Star CASASUCCESS
  10. 1999Proton-K/Briz-M | Raduga 34KhSCFAILURE
  11. 1997Soyuz U | Progress M-35RFSASUCCESS
  12. 1995Kosmos-3M | Tsikada 21NPSUCCESS
  13. 1989Proton | Gorizont 18CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1989Soyuz-U-PVB | Zenit-8 83CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1988Tsiklon-3 | Okean-O1 3CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1986Molniya-M | US-K 47CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1984Tsiklon-3 | Meteor-2 11CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1983Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 80CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1979Proton-K/DM | Gorizont 2CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1972Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 55CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1968Molniya-M | Molniya-1 9CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1968Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U3-S 2CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1966Saturn IB | Apollo AS-203NASASUCCESS

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.