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August 17 in spaceflight

23 orbital launches flew on August 17, the earliest of them in 1958, and 20 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 17. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 17 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

23MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 986 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 17, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 17

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

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

Tidally locked in synchronous rotation, the Moon always presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth. From lunar orbit, the Moon's farside can become familiar, though. In fact this sharp picture, a mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide angle camera, is centered on the lunar farside. Part of a global mosaic of over 15,000 images acquired between November 2009 and February 2011, the highest resolution version shows features at a scale of 100 meters per pixel. Surprisingly, the rough and battered surface of the farside looks very different from the nearside covered with smooth dark lunar maria. A likely explanation is that the farside crust is thicker, making it harder for molten material from the interior to flow to the surface and form dark, smooth maria.Tomorrow's picture: Sunday's Childe

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.

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.

© Rory Gannaway — 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.

© Yann Sainty — 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.

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 17

  1. 986

    Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of the Gates of Trajan: The Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron defeat the Byzantine forces at the Gate of Trajan, with Byzantine Emperor Basil II barely escaping.

    Byzantine–Bulgarian wars ↗

  2. 1943

    World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.

    Seventh United States Army ↗

  3. 1958

    Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.

    Pioneer 0 ↗

  4. 1970

    Soviet Union Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).

    Venera program ↗

Every launch on August 17

23 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Long March 2C | Satellite for Earth Observation (SEO)CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2025Long March 6A | SatNet LEO Group 09CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2025Long March 4C | Shiyan 28 B-02CASCSUCCESS
  4. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-10SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2021Vega | Pléiades Neo 4ASASUCCESS
  6. 2019Smart Dragon 1 | Maiden FlightCHNRSUCCESS
  7. 2011Proton-M / Briz-M Enhanced | Ekspress AM-4KhSCFAILURE
  8. 2011Dnepr 1 | Sich-2ISCKSUCCESS
  9. 2009Delta II 7925 | GPS IIR-M-8 (USA-206)ULASUCCESS
  10. 2000Titan 403B | NROL-11USAFSUCCESS
  11. 2000Ariane 44LP | Brasilsat B4 & Nilesat 102ASASUCCESS
  12. 1999Delta 7420-10C | Globalstar 24,27,53,54USAFSUCCESS
  13. 1996Soyuz-U | Soyuz TM-24RFSASUCCESS
  14. 1996H-II | MidoriJAXASUCCESS
  15. 1983Soyuz U | Progress 17CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-2M/NKh 5CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1978Proton-K/DM | EkranCCCPFAILURE
  18. 1973Thor Burner 2A | DMSP-5B F4USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1970Molniya-M | Venera-7CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1966Thor Delta E1 | Pioneer 7USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1965Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4A 23USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1961Blue Scout Jr | O-1USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1958Thor Able I | Able I (Pioneer)ABMAFAILURE

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.