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August 8 in spaceflight

25 orbital launches flew on August 8, the earliest of them in 1966, and 25 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 7 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 8. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 8 in 4 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

25MISSIONS

25 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1966, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

7ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1576 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

4IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 8, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 8

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

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.

© Gerald Rhemann — used with the credit NASA publishes

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

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 8

  1. 1576

    The cornerstone of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's observatory Uraniborg was laid on the island of Hven.

    Cornerstone ↗

  2. 1576

    The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven.

    Tycho Brahe ↗

  3. 1908

    Wilbur Wright makes the Wright Brothers' first public flight, at a racecourse at Le Mans, France.

    Wright brothers ↗

  4. 1940

    The "Aufbau Ost" directive for the mobilization of German forces for the invasion of the Soviet Union is signed by Wilhelm Keitel.

    Aufbau Ost (1940) ↗

  5. 1989

    Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.

    Space Shuttle program ↗

  6. 2007

    Space Shuttle program: STS-118 Mission: Endeavour takes off on a mission to the International Space Station.

    STS-118 ↗

Every launch on August 8

25 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-38SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Smart Dragon 3 | Geely Constellation Group 04CHNRSUCCESS
  3. 2023Long March 2C | 5 m S-SAR-02 (Huanjing-2F)CASCSUCCESS
  4. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-20SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2019Atlas V 551 | AEHF-5 (USA 292)ULASUCCESS
  6. 2013SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF26VGSUCCESS
  7. 2013Delta IV M+(5,4) | WGS-6 (USA-244)ULASUCCESS
  8. 2007Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-118USASUCCESS
  9. 2003Zenit | Echostar IXSLSUCCESS
  10. 2001Delta 7326-9.5 | GenesisUSAFSUCCESS
  11. 1997Ariane 44P | PAS 6ASASUCCESS
  12. 1996Ariane 44L | Italsat F2 & Télécom 2DASASUCCESS
  13. 1990Tsiklon-3 | Strela-3 49 to 54CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1989Ariane 44LP | TV-Sat 2ASASUCCESS
  15. 1989Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-28LSOCSUCCESS
  16. 1988Soyuz U | Zenit-8 66CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1985Proton-K/DM | Raduga 16CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1985Tsiklon-3 | Tselina-D 50CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1985Soyuz U | Yantar-1KFT 5CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1984Tsiklon-3 | Geo-IK 5CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1978Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Pioneer Venus MultiprobeUSAFSUCCESS
  22. 1971R-36O 8K69M | OGCh 24CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1968Scout B | Explorer 39NASASUCCESS
  24. 1967R-36O 8K69 | OGCh 12CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1966Voskhod | Zenit-4 21CCCPSUCCESS

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.