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August 15 in spaceflight

13 orbital launches flew on August 15, the earliest of them in 1959, and 10 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 15. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 15 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

13MISSIONS

10 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1959, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1977 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 15, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 15

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

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

Scientists are melting holes in the bottom of the world. In fact, almost 100 holes melted near the South Pole are now being used as an astronomical observatory. Astronomers with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory lowered a long string knotted with basketball-sized light detectors into each vertical lake. The water in each hole soon refreezes. The detectors attached to the strings are sensitive to blue light emitted in the surrounding clear ice. Such light results from fast-moving secondary particles liberated when high-energy neutrinos emitted by powerful processes out in the universe collide with ice molecules. IceCube has now detected many illuminating neutrinos. Pictured in 2010, one of the last of IceCube's detector strings is lowered into the freezing abyss, making IceCube the largest neutrino detector ever created. In recognition of unprecedented discoveries, it was announced earlier this week that a founding leader of the IceCube Collaboration will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.Tomorrow's picture: Moons Planet

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.

© TWAN — 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.

© Clear Skies — 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

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 15

  1. 1977

    Big Ear, a radio telescope at Ohio State University, received a strong, apparently extraterrestrial radio signal that became known as the Wow! signal (printout pictured).

    Ohio State University Radio Observatory ↗

  2. 1977

    The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.

    Ohio State University Radio Observatory ↗

Every launch on August 15

13 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Zhuque-2E | 4 x SatNet test satellitesLSFAILURE
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | WorldView Legion 3 & 4SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-28 (89P)RFSASUCCESS
  4. 2020Ariane 5 ECA+ | Galaxy 30, MEV-2 & BSAT-4BASASUCCESS
  5. 2016Long March 2D | QUESS (Micius)CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2011Long March 4B | Hai Yang 2ACASCSUCCESS
  7. 1995Athena I | Gemstar DSS-1LMTFAILURE
  8. 1992Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-14RFSASUCCESS
  9. 1991Tsiklon-3 | Meteor-3 5CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1990Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-4CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1989Soyuz U | Resurs-F2 4CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1980Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 26CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1959Juno II | BeaconNASAFAILURE

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.