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October 23 in spaceflight

24 orbital launches flew on October 23, the earliest of them in 1958, and 19 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 23. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 23 in 2 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

24MISSIONS

19 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1958, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1906 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

2IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 23, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on October 23

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.

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 October 23

  1. 1906

    Alberto Santos-Dumont flew his biplane 14-bis for 50 metres (160 ft) at an altitude of about four metres (13 ft).

    Alberto Santos-Dumont ↗

  3. 1970

    Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.

    Gary Gabelich ↗

  4. 2007

    Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-120, with Pamela Melroy becoming the second female space shuttle commander.

    Space Shuttle Discovery ↗

Every launch on October 23

24 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Long March 5 | TJSW-20CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-61SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024New Shepard | NS-27BOSUCCESS
  4. 2024Long March 2C | Yaogan 43 Group 03CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2023Long March 2D | Yaogan 39 Group 04CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2014Long March 3C/E | Chang'e 5-T1CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2012Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-06MRFSASUCCESS
  8. 2007Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-120USASUCCESS
  9. 2007Molniya-M | US-K 84PRSCSUCCESS
  10. 2006Long March 4B | Shi Jian 6C & 6DCASCSUCCESS
  11. 2006Soyuz U | Progress M-58RFSASUCCESS
  12. 1998Pegasus Hybrid | Satélite de Coleta de Dados-2 (SCD-2)OSCSUCCESS
  13. 1995Conestoga 1620 | Meteor SMSpace Services Inc.FAILURE
  14. 1991Proton | Gorizont 24CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1985Kosmos-3M | Parus 50CCCPFAILURE
  16. 1985Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 65CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1971Titan 24B | KH-8 33USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1970Titan 23B | KH-8 29USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1970Tsiklon-2 | I2P 4CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1968Thor Burner 2 | DSAP-4B F2USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1964Atlas Agena D | KH-7 13USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1964Kosmos 65S3 | Strela-1 6,7,8CCCPFAILURE
  23. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 33USAFFAILURE
  24. 1958Juno-I | BeaconABMAFAILURE

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.