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August 27 in spaceflight

26 orbital launches flew on August 27, the earliest of them in 1962, and 24 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 27. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 27 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

26MISSIONS

24 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1962, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1962 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 27, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on August 27

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.

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.

© David Jenkins — 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.

© Robert Eder — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on August 27

  1. 1962

    The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.

    Mariner 2 ↗

  2. 1985

    Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-51-I to deploy three communication satellites and repair a fourth malfunctioning one.

    Space Shuttle Discovery ↗

  3. 2003

    Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.

    Mars ↗

Every launch on August 27

26 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Ariane 62 | MTG-I2ASASUCCESS
  2. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-56SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-11SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2019Starship Hopper | 150m HopSpXSUCCESS
  5. 2015GSLV Mk II | GSAT-6ISROSUCCESS
  6. 2015Long March 4C | Yaogan-27CASCSUCCESS
  7. 1998Delta 8930 | Galaxy 10USAFFAILURE
  8. 1994Long March 2E | Optus B3CASCSUCCESS
  9. 1994Titan 401A Centaur | Mercury 14USAFSUCCESS
  10. 1989Delta 4925-8 | Marcopolo 1USAFSUCCESS
  11. 1987H-1 | Kiku 5MHISUCCESS
  12. 1986Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 25CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1985Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-51-ILSOCSUCCESS
  14. 1982Molniya-M | Molniya-3 33LCCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1981Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F41 16LCCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 80CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1976Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 10CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1975Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 49CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1975Delta 2914 | Symphonie 2USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1971Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 45CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1970Scout A | Transit-O 19USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1969Thor Delta L | Pioneer EUSAFFAILURE
  23. 1968Voskhod | Zenit-4 46CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1968Kosmos 11K65 | Strela-2 5CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1966Voskhod | Zenit-4 22CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1962Atlas Agena B | Mariner 2USAFSUCCESS

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.