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October 29 in spaceflight

22 orbital launches flew on October 29, the earliest of them in 1963, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 7 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 29. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 29 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

22MISSIONS

22 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1963, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

7ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1986 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 29, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on October 29

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

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.

© Capella Observatory Team — 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.

© Leo Shatz — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on October 29

  1. 1986

    British prime minister Margaret Thatcher officially opened the M25, one of Britain's busiest motorways.

    Margaret Thatcher ↗

  2. 1986

    British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway.

    Margaret Thatcher ↗

  3. 1991

    Galileo became the first spacecraft to visit an asteroid when it made a flyby of 951 Gaspra.

    Galileo (spacecraft) ↗

  4. 1991

    The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.

    Galileo (spacecraft) ↗

  5. 1998

    At 77 years old, former astronaut John Glenn (pictured) returned to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-95 mission.

    John Glenn ↗

  6. 1998

    Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space at that time.

    Space Shuttle Discovery ↗

  7. 1998

    ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with live coverage of the launch of the STS-95 space shuttle mission.

    ATSC standards ↗

Every launch on October 29

22 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-37SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Long March 2F/G | Shenzhou 19CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 7-6SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2022Long March 2D | Shiyan 20CCASCSUCCESS
  5. 2018H-IIA 202 | KhalifaSat & GOSAT-2MHISUCCESS
  6. 2018Long March 2C | CFOSATCASCSUCCESS
  7. 2014Atlas V 401 | GPS IIF-8 (USA-258)ULASUCCESS
  8. 2014Soyuz 2.1a | Progress M-25M (57P)RFSASUCCESS
  9. 2013Long March 2C | Yaogan 18CASCSUCCESS
  10. 2009Ariane 5 ECA | NSS-12 & Thor 6ASASUCCESS
  11. 2008Long March 3B/E | Simon BolivarCASCSUCCESS
  12. 2004Proton-K/DM-2M | Ekspress AM-1KhSCSUCCESS
  13. 2000Ariane 44LP | Europe*Star 1ASASUCCESS
  14. 1998Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-95LSOCSUCCESS
  15. 1992Kosmos-3M | Parus 78NPSUCCESS
  16. 1991Ariane 44L | Intelsat 601ASASUCCESS
  17. 1983Tsiklon-2 | US-P 17CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1976Kosmos-3M | Parus 6CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1975Tsiklon-2 | US-P 2CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1974Titan IIID | KH-9 9USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1973Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 5CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1963Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-5 10USAFSUCCESS

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.