Skip to content
DELTA-V

ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR

September 27 in spaceflight

28 orbital launches flew on September 27, the earliest of them in 1962, and 25 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on September 27. Below are the pictures NASA published on September 27 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

28MISSIONS

25 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1962, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1810 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

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

Published on September 27

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.

© Pascal Fouquet — 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.

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.

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 September 27

  1. 1810

    The French army under André Masséna fails to break British forces under the Arthur Wellesley in the battle of Bussaco.

    André Masséna ↗

  2. 1822

    In a letter to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris, Jean-François Champollion announced his initial successes in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone (pictured).

    Lettre à M. Dacier ↗

  3. 1822

    Jean-François Champollion officially informs the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in France that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone.

    Jean-François Champollion ↗

  6. 2008

    CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk.

    Zhai Zhigang ↗

Every launch on September 27

28 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Long March 6A | SatNet LEO Group 11CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2024Long March 2D | Shijian 19CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2023Qased | Noor-3IRGCAFSUCCESS
  4. 2021Atlas V 401 | Landsat 9ULASUCCESS
  5. 2021Long March 3B/E | Shiyan 10CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2021Kuaizhou 1A | Jilin-1-02DEPSUCCESS
  7. 2020Long March 4B | Huanjing 2A, 2BCASCSUCCESS
  8. 2014Proton-M Briz-M | Olymp-K (Luch)KhSCSUCCESS
  9. 2011Minotaur IV+ | TacSat-4OSCSUCCESS
  10. 2007Delta II 7925H-9.5 | DawnULASUCCESS
  11. 2004Long March 2D | Fanhui Shi Weixing (20)CASCSUCCESS
  12. 2003Ariane 5 G | INSAT-3E, eBird 1, SMART-1ASASUCCESS
  13. 2003Kosmos-3M | Mozhaets-4NPSUCCESS
  14. 1997Delta II | Iridium 34 to 37 & 19USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1994Kosmos-3M | Taifun-1 24NPSUCCESS
  16. 1990Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-5CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1989Tsiklon-2 | US-P 31CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1989Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 76CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1985Proton | TKS-MCCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1984Kosmos-3M | Taifun-2 19CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1984Soyuz U | Zenit-8 7CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1975Diamant BP4 | AuraCNESSUCCESS
  23. 1973Titan 24B | KH-8 40USAFSUCCESS
  24. 1973Soyuz | Soyuz 12CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1967Proton / UR-500 K/D | Soyuz 7K-L1 No.4LCCCPFAILURE
  26. 1967Kosmos-3M | Zaliv-GVM 2CCCPFAILURE
  27. 1963Scout X-2B | DSAP-1 F5USAFFAILURE
  28. 1962Vostok 8A92 | Zenit-2 5CCCPSUCCESS

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.