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August 12 in spaceflight

27 orbital launches flew on August 12, the earliest of them in 1958, and 24 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 12. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 12 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

27MISSIONS

24 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1958, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1865 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 12, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 12

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

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

How many moons can you see? The best answer is five: four orbiting Jupiter and Luna orbiting Earth. This multi-moon picture was possible because Earth's Moon moved directly in front of Jupiter last week. The featured image is a series of exposures near alignment taken from Westchester, New York, USA. The sunlit crescent of Earth's Moon, on the lower left, is overexposed, while the Moon's night side, on the upper right, is faintly illuminated by Earthshine. Lined up nearly vertically above our Moon, listed from bottom to top, are Jupiter's bright Galilean satellites: Ganymede, Io, Callisto, and Europa. Callisto, Ganymede, and Io are larger than Earth's Moon, while Europa is only slightly smaller. NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno is currently orbiting Jupiter and has made close passes near three of these moons.Tomorrow's picture: stairway to heaven

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.

© Paolo Palma — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

© Charles Bonafilia — 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.

© Mike Selby — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on August 12

  1. 1865

    Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performs the first antiseptic surgery.

    Joseph Lister ↗

  2. 1960

    Echo 1A, NASA's first successful communications satellite, is launched.

    Project Echo ↗

Every launch on August 12

27 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-49SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-7SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM)SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2023Long March 3B/E | L-SAR4-01 (LTDC-4A)CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 3-3SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2021GSLV Mk II | EOS-03 (GISAT-1)ISROFAILURE
  7. 2018Delta IV Heavy | Parker Solar ProbeULASUCCESS
  8. 2005Atlas V 401 | Mars Reconnaissance OrbiterLMTSUCCESS
  9. 2003Soyuz-U-PVB | Orlets-1 7RFSASUCCESS
  10. 1999Ariane 42P | Telkom 1ASASUCCESS
  11. 1998Titan 401A Centaur | Mercury 16USAFFAILURE
  12. 1992Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 50NPSUCCESS
  13. 1988Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 73CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1986H-1 | AjisaiMHISUCCESS
  15. 1985Molniya-M | US-K 41CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1981Kosmos-3M | Parus 28CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1980Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 24CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1978Delta 2914 | ISEE 3USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1977Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | HEAO 1USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1976Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 70CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1974Soyuz U | Kosmos 672CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1971Titan 24B | KH-8 32USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1971Soyuz 11A511L | T2K 3CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1969Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | ATS 5USAFSUCCESS
  25. 1962Vostok-K | Vostok 4CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1960Thor Delta | Echo 1USAFSUCCESS
  27. 1958Project Pilot | NOTS 2USNFAILURE

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.