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August 7 in spaceflight

19 orbital launches flew on August 7, the earliest of them in 1959, and 18 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 7. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 7 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

19MISSIONS

18 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1959, the most recent 2023.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1909 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

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

Published on August 7

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

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

"Happy New Year!" No, wait, this is not a fireworks display. This image shows Nebula Pa 30, observed with the Gemini North Telescope in Hawai'i. It is likely the remnant of an old supernova explosion: separate historical records by Chinese, Japanese and Arabic astronomers tell of a "guest star" that appeared in the sky for 185 days in the year 1181. It is believed that this bright new point of light came from the supernova that caused the fireworks in Pa 30. Astronomers don't know exactly what happened in this unusual explosion, classified as a Type Iax supernova, but it is thought to be caused by the merger of two white dwarfs. The mysterious central star in the image is extremely hot and produces a strong wind, possibly forming the radial filaments. Look closely at them: those pearl-like knots stringing the filaments are 4 light-days in diameter. Understanding how a supernova created this amazing nebula continues an 845-year old mystery (and counting).Tomorrow's picture: smörgåsbord

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.

© Ron Brecher — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

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 August 7

  1. 1909

    Fifty-nine days after leaving New York City with three passengers, Alice Huyler Ramsey arrived in San Francisco to become the first woman to drive an automobile across the contiguous United States.

    Alice Huyler Ramsey ↗

  2. 1909

    Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.

    Alice Huyler Ramsey ↗

  3. 1959

    Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

    Explorers Program ↗

  5. 1985

    Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.

    Takao Doi ↗

  6. 1997

    Space Shuttle Program: The Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-85 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

    Space Shuttle program ↗

Every launch on August 7

19 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2023Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Glonass-K2 No. 13 (Kosmos 2569)VKSSUCCESS
  2. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-8SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2022SSLV | EOS-02 (Microsat-2A) (Demo 1)ISROFAILURE
  4. 2020Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink 9SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2018Falcon 9 Block 5 | Merah Putih (Telkom-4)SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2012SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF21VGSUCCESS
  7. 1997Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-85USASUCCESS
  8. 1985Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F41 57LCCCPSUCCESS
  9. 1984Tsiklon-2 | US-P 19CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1981Vostok 8A92M | Bulgaria 1300CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1978Soyuz U | Progress 3CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1974Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 29CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1971Atlas F | LOADS 2USAFSUCCESS
  14. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4 76CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1970Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U2-IK 1CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1969Proton / UR-500 K/D | Zond 7CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1968Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | KH-4B 4USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1967Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | KH-4A 43USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1959Thor Able III | Explorer 6USAFSUCCESS

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.