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August 23 in spaceflight

21 orbital launches flew on August 23, the earliest of them in 1961, and 19 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 23. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 23 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

21MISSIONS

19 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1944 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 23, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 23

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

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.

© Robert Nemiroff — 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.

© Robert Nemiroff — 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 23

  1. 1944

    World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allied forces.

    Marseille ↗

  2. 1944

    World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is later arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.

    Michael I of Romania ↗

  3. 1954

    The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departed from Marseille, France.

    Cruise of the Kings ↗

  4. 1966

    Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

    Lunar Orbiter 1 ↗

  6. 2023

    Chandrayaan-3 mission initiates first Moon landing in Indian history.

    Chandrayaan-3 ↗

Every launch on August 23

21 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Electron | Live, Laugh, Launch (Calistus A-E)RLSUCCESS
  2. 2023Electron | We Love the Nightlife (Capella Acadia 1)RLSUCCESS
  3. 2023Chollima-1 | Malligyong-1bNADAFAILURE
  4. 2023Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-24 (85P)RFSASUCCESS
  5. 2022Kuaizhou 1A | Chuangxin-16CASICSUCCESS
  6. 2020Long March 2D | Gaofen-9-05CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2005Dnepr | KirariISCKSUCCESS
  8. 2000Delta 8930 | DM-F3USAFSUCCESS
  9. 1997Athena I | LewisLMTSUCCESS
  10. 1994Molniya-M | Molniya-3 60LPRSCSUCCESS
  11. 1990Tsiklon-2 | US-P 34CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1989Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-1CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1988Soyuz U | Resurs-F2 2CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1988Soyuz U | Zenit-8 67CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1985Tsiklon-2 | US-A 27CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1983Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 84CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1973Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | INTELSAT IV F7USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1969Titan 23B | KH-8 23USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1967Thor Burner 2 | DSAP-4A F3USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1962Scout X-2M | DSAP-1 F2USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1961Atlas LV-3A | Ranger 1USAFPARTIAL

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.