Launches
ON RECORD21MISSIONS
18 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2023.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
October 21 in spaceflight
21 orbital launches flew on October 21, the earliest of them in 1961, and 18 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 21. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 21 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 1959 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED5IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 21, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on October 21
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.
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.
© Marcella Giulia Pace — used with the credit NASA publishes
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.
© Ian Griffin — used with the credit NASA publishes
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.
© Robert Nemiroff — used with the credit NASA publishes
What happened on October 21
1959
President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA, including most of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.
Dwight D. Eisenhower ↗1965
Comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers (279,617 miles) from the sun.
Comet Ikeya–Seki ↗
Every launch on October 21
21 launches
ONLINE
- 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 7-5SpXSUCCESS
- 2023Gaganyaan Abort Test Booster | TV-D1ISROSUCCESS
- 2022Soyuz 2.1v/Volga | Kosmos 2561 & Kosmos 2562VKSSUCCESS
- 2021Nuri | Flight TestKARIFAILURE
- 2014Proton-M Briz-M | Ekspress AM6KhSCPARTIAL
- 2011Soyuz STB/Fregat | Galileo L1 (IOV FM01-FM02)ASASUCCESS
- 2003Long March 4B | Zi Yuan 1-2CASCSUCCESS
- 2001Soyuz U | Soyuz TM-33RFSASUCCESS
- 2000Proton-K/DM-2M | GE 6KhSCSUCCESS
- 2000Zenit | Thuraya 1SLSUCCESS
- 1998Ariane 5 G | MaqSat 3 & ARDESASUCCESS
- 1992Molniya 8K78M-PVB | US-K 70PRSCSUCCESS
- 1989Delta 6925 | GPS-2 4USAFSUCCESS
- 1985Long March 2C | FSW-0 7CASCSUCCESS
- 1983Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 87CCCPSUCCESS
- 1982Kosmos-3M | Taifun-1B 3CCCPSUCCESS
- 1977Kosmos-3M | DS-P1-M 12CCCPSUCCESS
- 1976Tsiklon-2 | US-A 13CCCPSUCCESS
- 1971Thor Delta N6 | ITOS BUSAFFAILURE
- 1969Kosmos-3M | Zaliv 4CCCPSUCCESS
- 1961Atlas LV-3A | MIDAS 4 & Westford-1USAFSUCCESS
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.