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September 2 in spaceflight

19 orbital launches flew on September 2, the earliest of them in 1965, and 15 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on September 2. Below are the pictures NASA published on September 2 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

19MISSIONS

15 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1965, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1807 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for September 2, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on September 2

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.

© Lorand Fenyes — 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.

© Fabian Neyer — 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.

© Josep Drudis — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on September 2

  1. 1807

    Napoleonic Wars: The British Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon.

    Battle of Copenhagen (1807) ↗

  2. 1970

    NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.

    NASA ↗

  3. 2023

    India's first solar observation mission: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launches Aditya-L1 from Satish Dhawan space centre.

    Aditya-L1 ↗

Every launch on September 2

19 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Shavit-2 | Ofek-19IAISUCCESS
  2. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | SDA Tranche 0BSpXSUCCESS
  3. 2023PSLV-XL | Aditya-L1ISROSUCCESS
  4. 2022Long March 4C | Yaogan 33-02CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2015Atlas V 551 | MUOS-4ULASUCCESS
  6. 2015Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-18MRFSASUCCESS
  7. 2010Proton-M/DM-2 Enhanced | 3 x Glonass-M (Kosmos 2464, Kosmos 2465, Kosmos 2466)KhSCSUCCESS
  8. 2007GSLV | INSAT-4CRISROFAILURE
  9. 2005Soyuz-U-PVB | Yantar-1KFT 21RFSASUCCESS
  10. 1997Ariane 44LP | Hot Bird 3 & Meteosat 7ASASUCCESS
  11. 1988Titan 34D Transtage | Mercury 12USAFSUCCESS
  12. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 5CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1975Molniya-M | Molniya-1 31CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1972Scout B-1 | Triad 1USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1972Voskhod | Zenit-4M 41CCCPFAILURE
  16. 1971Proton | Luna-18CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1970Black Arrow | X-2Royal Aircraft EstablishmentFAILURE
  18. 1969Voskhod | Zenit-4 64CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1965Thor SLV-2 Agena D | MRPVUSAFFAILURE

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.