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July 20 in spaceflight

18 orbital launches flew on July 20, the earliest of them in 1965, and 18 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on July 20. Below are the pictures NASA published on July 20 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

18MISSIONS

18 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1965, the most recent 2023.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1969 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for July 20, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on July 20

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

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 July 20

  1. 1969

    The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later (bootprint pictured).

    Apollo 11 ↗

  2. 1969

    Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.

    Apollo program ↗

  3. 1976

    The Viking 1 lander became the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission.

    Viking 1 ↗

  4. 1976

    The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.

    Viking 1 ↗

  5. 2019

    Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

    Soyuz MS-13 ↗

  6. 2021

    American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.

    Jeff Bezos ↗

Every launch on July 20

18 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-15SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2023Kuaizhou 1A | Tianmu-1 07-10EPSUCCESS
  3. 2021New Shepard | NS-16BOSUCCESS
  4. 2020Falcon 9 Block 5 | ANASIS-IISpXSUCCESS
  5. 2019Soyuz-FG | Soyuz MS-13RFSASUCCESS
  6. 2001Molniya-M | Molniya-3PRSCSUCCESS
  7. 1995Soyuz U | Progress M-28RFSASUCCESS
  8. 1994Soyuz-U-PVB | Yantar-4K2 72VKSSUCCESS
  9. 1990Soyuz U | Zenit-8 93CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1989Soyuz U | Zenit-8 84CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1983Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F41 23LCCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1979Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 20CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKM 2CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1977Molniya-M | US-K 8CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1972Kosmos-3M | Strela-1M 25-32CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1971Voskhod | Zenit-4M 18CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1966Soyuz 11A510 | US-AO 2CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1965Atlas Agena D | Vela 3A & 3BUSAFSUCCESS

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.