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October 7 in spaceflight

16 orbital launches flew on October 7, the earliest of them in 1964, and 15 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 7. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 7 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

16MISSIONS

15 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1964, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1958 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 7, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on October 7

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.

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.

© Andrew McCarthy — 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.

© Roberto Sartori — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on October 7

  2. 1959

    The Soviet probe Luna 3 transmits the first-ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.

    Luna 3 ↗

  3. 2002

    The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-112 to continue assembly of the International Space Station.

    Space Shuttle Atlantis ↗

  4. 2008

    2008 TC3 exploded above the Nubian Desert in Sudan, in the first time that an asteroid impact had been predicted prior to atmospheric entry.

    2008 TC3 ↗

  5. 2008

    Asteroid 2008 TC3 impacts the Earth over Sudan, the first time an asteroid impact is detected prior to its entry into Earth's atmosphere.

    2008 TC3 ↗

Every launch on October 7

16 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-59SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | HeraSpXSUCCESS
  3. 2023Miura 1 | SN1 Test FlightPLD SpaceSUCCESS
  4. 2022Electron | It Argos Up From Here (Argos-4)RLSUCCESS
  5. 2022Long March 11 | CentiSpace-1 S5 & S6CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2015Long March 2D | Jilin-1CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2014SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF30VGSUCCESS
  8. 2014H-IIA 202 | Himawari-8MHISUCCESS
  9. 2011Long March 3B/E | Eutelsat W3CCASCSUCCESS
  10. 2010Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-01MRFSASUCCESS
  11. 2002Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-112USASUCCESS
  12. 1999Delta II | GPS IIR-3USAFSUCCESS
  13. 1978Atlas F/SVS | Navstar 3USAFSUCCESS
  14. 1971Voskhod | Zenit-2M 23CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1968Voskhod | Zenit-4 49CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1964Atlas SLV-3 Agena D | KH-7 12USAFFAILURE

FIELD KIT / LIBRARY

SPONSORED

General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.

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  • 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.