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July 7 in spaceflight

20 orbital launches flew on July 7, the earliest of them in 1961, and 20 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on July 7. Below are the pictures NASA published on July 7 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

20MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

2ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1959 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for July 7, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on July 7

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.

© Mårten Frosth — 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.

© Giorgio Ferrari — 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 July 7

  1. 1959

    Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.

    Venus ↗
  2. 2003

    NASA Opportunity rover, MER-B or Mars Exploration Rover–B, was launched into space aboard a Delta II rocket.

    NASA ↗

Every launch on July 7

20 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Transporter 17 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare)SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 5-13SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 4-21SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2022Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat | Glonass-K1 No. 16 (Kosmos 2557)VKSSUCCESS
  5. 2016Soyuz-FG | Soyuz MS (MS-01)RFSASUCCESS
  6. 2008Ariane 5 ECA | Badr-6 & ProtoStar IASASUCCESS
  7. 2007Proton-M | DirecTV 10KhSCSUCCESS
  8. 1998Shtil'-1 | Tubsat-N & N1Makeyev Rocket Design BureauSUCCESS
  9. 1995Ariane 40 | Helios 1AASASUCCESS
  10. 1993Tsiklon-2 | US-PM 3RFSASUCCESS
  11. 1992Delta II | GPS IIA-5USAFSUCCESS
  12. 1988Proton-K/D-2 | Fobos-1CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1988Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F43 29L 2CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1982Kosmos-3M | Parus 34CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 42CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1978Soyuz U | Progress 2CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1977Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 12CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1972Titan IIID | KH-9 3USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4 74CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 26USAFSUCCESS

FIELD KIT / LIBRARY

SPONSORED

General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.

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  • 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.