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August 4 in spaceflight

29 orbital launches flew on August 4, the earliest of them in 1961, and 27 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 4. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 4 in 3 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

29MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1944 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

3IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 4, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 4

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

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

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.

© Joan Josep Isach Cogollos — 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 August 4

  1. 1944

    Under the state of emergency law, the Finnish Parliament elects Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim as the President of Finland to replace the resigned Risto Ryti.

    Parliament of Finland ↗

  2. 1984

    The Ariane 3 rocket is launched for the first time, carrying the Eutelsat I F-2 and Télécom 1A satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

    Ariane 3 ↗

  3. 2007

    NASA's Phoenix Mars lander is launched.

    NASA ↗

Every launch on August 4

29 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-53SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2026Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 23CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2025Long March 12 | SatNet LEO Group 07CASCSUCCESS
  4. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-30SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-21 (S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee)SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 11-1SpXSUCCESS
  7. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Danuri (KPLO - Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter)SpXSUCCESS
  8. 2022Long March 2F/G | Chinese Reusable Space VehicleCASCSUCCESS
  9. 2022New Shepard | NS-22BOSUCCESS
  10. 2022Atlas V 421 | SBIRS GEO-6ULASUCCESS
  11. 2022Electron | Antipodean Adventure (NROL-199)RLSUCCESS
  12. 2022Long March 4B | Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Inventory Satellite (TECIS)CASCSUCCESS
  13. 2021Long March 6 | KL-BetaCASCSUCCESS
  14. 2020Starship SN5 | 150m HopSpXSUCCESS
  15. 2017SpaceShipTwo | VSS Unity GF06VGSUCCESS
  16. 2010Ariane 5 ECA | RASCOM-QAF1R & NILESAT 201ASASUCCESS
  17. 2007Delta II 7925 | PhoenixULASUCCESS
  18. 2006Proton-M Briz-M | Hot Bird 8KhSCSUCCESS
  19. 2004Proton-M Briz-M | Amazonas-1KhSCSUCCESS
  20. 1993Molniya-M | Molniya-3 58LPRSCSUCCESS
  21. 1986Tsiklon-2 | US-P 25CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1984Ariane 3 | ECS 2 & Télécom 1AASASUCCESS
  23. 1982Soyuz U | Yantar-4K1 5CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1981Tsiklon-2 | US-P 11CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1981Molniya-M | US-K 22CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1977Proton | TKS-VA 3 & 4CCCPFAILURE
  27. 1976Soyuz U | Zenit-4MK 64CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1966Scout B | OV3-3USAFSUCCESS
  29. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 28USAFFAILURE

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.