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September 8 in spaceflight

22 orbital launches flew on September 8, the earliest of them in 1967, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on September 8. Below are the pictures NASA published on September 8 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

22MISSIONS

22 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1967, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1916 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for September 8, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on September 8

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.

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.

© Kim Quick — 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 September 8

  1. 1916

    In a bid to prove that women were capable of serving as military dispatch riders, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren arrive in Los Angeles, completing a 60-day, 5,500 mile cross-country trip on motorcycles.

    Van Buren sisters ↗

  2. 1944

    World War II: London is hit by a V-2 rocket for the first time.

    V-2 rocket ↗

  3. 1960

    In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).

    Huntsville, Alabama ↗

  6. 2016

    NASA launches OSIRIS-REx, its first asteroid sample return mission. The probe visited 101955 Bennu and returned with samples in September 2023.

    OSIRIS-REx ↗

Every launch on September 8

22 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Smart Dragon 3 | Geely Constellation Group 05CHNRSUCCESS
  2. 2023SpaceShipTwo | Galactic 03VGSUCCESS
  3. 2016Atlas V 411 | OSIRIS-RExULASUCCESS
  4. 2016SpaceShipTwo | VSS Unity CC01VGSUCCESS
  5. 2016GSLV Mk II | INSAT-3DRISROSUCCESS
  6. 2014Long March 4B | Yaogan 21 & Tiantuo 2CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2010Rokot / Briz-KM | Gonets-M12 & 2 x Strela-3 (Kosmos 2467, Kosmos 2468)VKSSUCCESS
  8. 2009Atlas V 401 | PAN (USA-207)ULASUCCESS
  9. 2005Proton-M Briz-M | Anik F1RKhSCSUCCESS
  10. 2005Soyuz U | Progress M-54RFSASUCCESS
  11. 2004Long March 4B | Shi Jian 6A & 6BCASCSUCCESS
  12. 2001Atlas IIAS | NROL-13LMTSUCCESS
  13. 2000Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-106USASUCCESS
  14. 1998Delta II | Iridium 77, 79 to 82USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1996Atlas IIA | GE 1LMTSUCCESS
  16. 1988Ariane 3 | GStar 3 & SBS 5ASASUCCESS
  17. 1984Atlas E/SGS-2 | GPS 10USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1983Delta 3924 | Satcom 2RUSAFSUCCESS
  19. 1982Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 22CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1973Kosmos-3M | Sfera 10CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4M 6CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1967Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | Surveyor 5USAFSUCCESS

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.