Launches
ON RECORD20MISSIONS
20 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1966, the most recent 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
July 8 in spaceflight
20 orbital launches flew on July 8, the earliest of them in 1966, and 20 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on July 8. Below are the pictures NASA published on July 8 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD2ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1994 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED6IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for July 8, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on July 8
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
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
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
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
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
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.
© Marcella Giulia Pace — used with the credit NASA publishes
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.
© Richard Jaworski — used with the credit NASA publishes
What happened on July 8
2011
Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
Space Shuttle Atlantis ↗
Every launch on July 8
20 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-28SpXSUCCESS
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Türksat 6ASpXSUCCESS
- 2014Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat | Meteor-M No.2, MKA-PN2, DX-1, UKube-1, TechDemoSat-1, SkySat-2, AISSat-2RFSASUCCESS
- 2011Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-135USASUCCESS
- 2003Delta II | Opportunity RoverUSAFSUCCESS
- 2002Kosmos-3M | Strela-3 131 & 132NPSUCCESS
- 1999Molniya-M | Molniya-3 63LPRSCSUCCESS
- 1994Ariane 44L | PAS 2 & BS 3nASASUCCESS
- 1994Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-65LSOCSUCCESS
- 1992Molniya 8K78M-PVB | US-K 69PRSCSUCCESS
- 1987Soyuz U | Yantar-1KFT 7CCCPSUCCESS
- 1985Tsiklon-3 | Tselina-D 49CCCPSUCCESS
- 1983Molniya-M | US-K 30CCCPSUCCESS
- 1977Kosmos-3M | Tsikada 2CCCPSUCCESS
- 1976Delta 2914 | Palapa A1USAFSUCCESS
- 1976Kosmos-3M | DS-P1-M 9 (Kosmos-839)CCCPSUCCESS
- 1976Titan IIID | KH-9 12USAFSUCCESS
- 1975Molniya-M | Molniya-2 13CCCPSUCCESS
- 1971Scout B | Solrad 10NASASUCCESS
- 1966Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-P1-Yu 6CCCPSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
SPONSORED
General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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- VIEW
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.
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.