Launches
ON RECORD22MISSIONS
20 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1962, the most recent 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
October 17 in spaceflight
22 orbital launches flew on October 17, the earliest of them in 1962, and 20 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 17. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 17 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 1604 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED5IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 17, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on October 17
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.
NASA · public domain
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.
© Ben Cooper — used with the credit NASA publishes
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.
NASA · public domain
What happened on October 17
1604
German astronomer Johannes Kepler began observations of an exceptionally bright object, now known as Kepler's Supernova, that had appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus.
Johannes Kepler ↗
Every launch on October 17
22 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Long March 6A | SpaceSail Polar Group #6CASCSUCCESS
- 2019Long March 3B/E | TJS-4 (TJSW-4)CASCSUCCESS
- 2019Electron | As The Crow Flies (Palisade)RLSUCCESS
- 2018Atlas V 551 | AEHF-4 (USA 288)ULASUCCESS
- 2016Antares 230 | Cygnus CRS OA-5 (S.S. Alan Poindexter)OASUCCESS
- 2007Delta II 7925-9.5 | GPS IIR-M-4 (USA-196)ULASUCCESS
- 2003PSLV | ResourcesatISROSUCCESS
- 2002Proton-K/17S40 | IntegralKhSCSUCCESS
- 1991Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-10CCCPSUCCESS
- 1989Soyuz U | Zenit-8 88CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Molniya-M | Molniya-3 31LCCCPSUCCESS
- 1978Proton-K/DM | EkranCCCPFAILURE
- 1978Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 91CCCPSUCCESS
- 1976Tsiklon-2 | US-A 12CCCPSUCCESS
- 1975Voskhod | Zenit-2M 61CCCPSUCCESS
- 1972Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 6CCCPFAILURE
- 1971Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | ASTEXUSAFSUCCESS
- 1969Voskhod | Zenit-4 66CCCPSUCCESS
- 1967X-15 | Flight 190USAFSUCCESS
- 1964Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4A 12USAFSUCCESS
- 1963Atlas Agena D | Vela 1A & 1BUSAFSUCCESS
- 1962Vostok 8A92 | Zenit-2 6CCCPSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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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.
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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.