Launches
ON RECORD26MISSIONS
25 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1967, the most recent 2024.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
October 30 in spaceflight
26 orbital launches flew on October 30, the earliest of them in 1967, and 25 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 1 spaceflight and astronomy event on October 30. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 30 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD1ENTRY
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1985 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED5IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 30, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on October 30
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.
© Team Ciel Austral — 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.
© Göran Strand — used with the credit NASA publishes
What happened on October 30
1985
Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.
Space Shuttle Challenger ↗
Every launch on October 30
26 launches
ONLINE
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-13SpXSUCCESS
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 9-9SpXSUCCESS
- 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-25SpXSUCCESS
- 2017Falcon 9 Block 4 | Koreasat 5ASpXSUCCESS
- 2014Soyuz-2.1a/Fregat | Meridian 7VKOSUCCESS
- 2011Soyuz-U | Progress M-13M (45P)RFSASUCCESS
- 2006Zenit | XM-4SLSUCCESS
- 2003Rokot / Briz-KM | SERVIS-1ELSSUCCESS
- 2002Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-1RFSASUCCESS
- 2000Long March 3A | Beidou Daohang Shiyan Wei.CASCSUCCESS
- 1997Ariane 5 G | MaqSat-H, TEAMSAT, MaqSat-B, YESESAFAILURE
- 1992Proton | Ekran-M 3KhSCSUCCESS
- 1990Delta 6925 | INMARSAT II F-1USAFSUCCESS
- 1985Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-61-ALSOCSUCCESS
- 1982Titan 34D IUS | DSCS-2 16USAFSUCCESS
- 1981Proton-K/D-1 | Venera-13CCCPSUCCESS
- 1980Soyuz U | Yantar-4K1 3CCCPSUCCESS
- 1979Scout G-1 | MagsatNASASUCCESS
- 1978Molniya-M | Prognoz-7CCCPSUCCESS
- 1973Kosmos-3M | DS-U2-IK 4CCCPSUCCESS
- 1973Scout A-1 | Transit-O 20USAFSUCCESS
- 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4M 8CCCPSUCCESS
- 1970Tsiklon-2 | I2P 5CCCPSUCCESS
- 1968Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 3CCCPSUCCESS
- 1967Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1967Soyuz | Kosmos 188CCCPSUCCESS
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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.