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July 29 in spaceflight

23 orbital launches flew on July 29, the earliest of them in 1960, and 20 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on July 29. Below are the pictures NASA published on July 29 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

23MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1851 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

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

Published on July 29

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

Stickney Crater, the largest crater on the martian moon Phobos, is named for Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall, mathematician and wife of astronomer Asaph Hall. Asaph Hall discovered both the Red Planet's moons in 1877. Over 9 kilometers across, Stickney is nearly half the diameter of Phobos itself, so large that the impact that blasted out the crater likely came close to shattering the tiny moon. This enhanced-color image of Stickney and surroundings was recorded by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it passed within some six thousand kilometers of Phobos in March of 2008. Even though the surface gravity of asteroid-like Phobos is less than 1/1000th Earth's gravity, streaks suggest loose material slid down inside the crater walls over time. Light bluish regions near the crater's rim could indicate a relatively freshly exposed surface. The origin of the curious grooves along the surface is mysterious but may be related to tidal stresses experienced by close-orbiting Phobos or the crater-forming impact itself.Tomorrow's picture: farside

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.

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.

© Ian Griffin — 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.

© Carlos Uriarte — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on July 29

  2. 1958

    U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

    Dwight D. Eisenhower ↗

  3. 1985

    Space Shuttle Challenger launches on STS-51-F. The shuttle ends up in a lower orbit than planned due to an engine failure during ascent.

    Space Shuttle Challenger ↗

  5. 2021

    The International Space Station temporarily spins out of control, moving the ISS 45 degrees out of attitude, following an engine malfunction of Russian module Nauka.

    International Space Station ↗

Every launch on July 29

23 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Long March 7A | Tianlian 3-01CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2025Eris-1 | Maiden FlightGSTFAILURE
  3. 2025Hyperbola-1 | Kunpeng-03i-SpaceSUCCESS
  4. 2023Falcon Heavy | EchoStar 24/Jupiter-3SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2022Long March 2D | Yaogan 35 Group 03CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2021Electron | It’s a Little Chile Up Here (STP-27RM)RLSUCCESS
  7. 2021Long March 2D | Tianhui-1-04CASCSUCCESS
  8. 2018Long March 3B / YZ-1 | Beidou-3 M5 & M6CASCSUCCESS
  9. 2014Ariane 5 ES | ATV-5 (Georges Lemaitre)ASASUCCESS
  10. 2014SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF29VGSUCCESS
  11. 2011Long March 2C | Shijian 10-02CASCSUCCESS
  12. 2009Dnepr | DubaiSat 1ISCKSUCCESS
  13. 1994Soyuz U | Yantar-1KFT 17RFSASUCCESS
  14. 1985Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-51-FLSOCSUCCESS
  15. 1982Kosmos-3M | Taifun-2 13CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 44CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 79CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1976Kosmos-3M | Zaliv 22CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1976Delta 2310 | NOAA 5USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1974Proton-K/DM | Molniya-1SCCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1972Proton | Salyut-2aCCCPFAILURE
  22. 1966Titan IIIB | KH-8 1USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1960Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 1NASAFAILURE

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.