Launches
ON RECORD20MISSIONS
19 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1965, the most recent 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
October 16 in spaceflight
20 orbital launches flew on October 16, the earliest of them in 1965, and 19 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 16. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 16 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD2ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1736 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED5IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 16, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on October 16
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
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.
© Robert Nemiroff — used with the credit NASA publishes
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
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
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
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.
© Gianni Sarcone — used with the credit NASA publishes
What happened on October 16
1793
War of the First Coalition: The two-day Battle of Wattignies concluded with Jean-Baptiste Jourdan leading French forces to victory over Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
War of the First Coalition ↗
Every launch on October 16
20 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-52SpXSUCCESS
- 2025Long March 8A | SatNet LEO Group 12CASCSUCCESS
- 2021Atlas V 401 | LucyULASUCCESS
- 2016Long March 2F/G | Shenzhou-11CASCSUCCESS
- 2015Proton-M/Briz-M | Türksat 4BILSSUCCESS
- 2015Long March 3B/E | APStar-9CASCSUCCESS
- 2014Ariane 5 ECA | Intelsat-30 & ARSAT-1ASASUCCESS
- 2000Soyuz U | Progress M-43RFSASUCCESS
- 1997Long March 3B | Apstar 2RCASCSUCCESS
- 1990Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 55CCCPSUCCESS
- 1985Soyuz U | Zenit-8 23CCCPSUCCESS
- 1980Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 27CCCPSUCCESS
- 1979Kosmos-3M | Parus 21CCCPSUCCESS
- 1975Delta 2914 | GOES 1USAFSUCCESS
- 1975Proton-K/D-1 | Luna-24aCCCPFAILURE
- 1973Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 65CCCPSUCCESS
- 1973Voskhod | Zenit-4M 57CCCPSUCCESS
- 1970Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 2CCCPSUCCESS
- 1967Voskhod | Zenit-4 35CCCPSUCCESS
- 1965Voskhod | Zenit-4 13CCCPSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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- VIEW
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.
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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.
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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.
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.