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August 18 in spaceflight

24 orbital launches flew on August 18, the earliest of them in 1960, and 21 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 18. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 18 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

24MISSIONS

21 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1868 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 18, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 18

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.

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.

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.

© Starry Earth — 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.

NASA · public domain

What happened on August 18

  2. 1877

    American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, the larger of Mars's two moons, six days after discovering Deimos, the smaller one.

    Asaph Hall ↗

  3. 1877

    American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Phobos, one of Mars's moons.

    Astronomer ↗

  4. 1903

    German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.

    Karl Jatho ↗

  5. 1976

    The Soviet Union's robotic probe Luna 24 successfully lands on the Moon.

    Soviet Union ↗

Every launch on August 18

24 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Zhuque-3 | Honghu-03LSSUCCESS
  2. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-5SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2021Long March 4B | Tianhui-2-02CASCSUCCESS
  4. 2020Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink 10SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2017Atlas V 401 | TDRS-MULASUCCESS
  6. 2011Long March 2C | Shijian 10-04CASCFAILURE
  7. 2008Proton-M Briz-M | Inmarsat 4 F3KhSCSUCCESS
  8. 1999Soyuz-U-PVB | Yantar-4K2 79RVSN RFSUCCESS
  9. 1996Long March 3 | Zhongxing 7CASCFAILURE
  10. 1990Delta 6925 | Marcopolo 2USAFSUCCESS
  11. 1989Delta 6925 | GPS-2 3USAFSUCCESS
  12. 1988Proton | Gorizont 16CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1987Tsiklon-3 | Meteor-2 16CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1985Mu-3S-II | SuiseiISASSUCCESS
  15. 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 45CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1976Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-I 18CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1972Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 8CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1970Titan 23B | KH-8 28USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1966Scout A | Transit-O 10USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1964Kosmos 65S3 | Strela-1 1,2,3CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1964Scout X-4A | Reentry-4ANASASUCCESS
  22. 1962Kosmos-2I 63S1 | Sputnik 18CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1960Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Courier 1AUSAFFAILURE
  24. 1960Thor Agena A | Discoverer 14USAFSUCCESS

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.