Launches
ON RECORD25MISSIONS
21 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1959, the most recent 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
November 4 in spaceflight
25 orbital launches flew on November 4, the earliest of them in 1959, and 21 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 1 spaceflight and astronomy event on November 4. Below are the pictures NASA published on November 4 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 1942 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED5IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for November 4, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on November 4
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.
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.
© Dan Bartlett — used with the credit NASA publishes
What happened on November 4
1942
World War II: Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel begins a retreat of his forces after a costly defeat during the Second Battle of El Alamein. The retreat would ultimately last five months.
Adolf Hitler ↗
Every launch on November 4
25 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Ariane 62 | Sentinel-1DASASUCCESS
- 2024Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Ionosfera-M 1 & 2RFSASUCCESS
- 2024H3-22 | DSN 3 (Kirameki 3)MHISUCCESS
- 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-26SpXSUCCESS
- 2022Electron | Catch Me If You Can (MATS)RLSUCCESS
- 2019Long March 3B/E | Beidou-3 IGSO-3CASCSUCCESS
- 2015SPARK | ORS-4SNLFAILURE
- 2011Proton-M Briz-M | 3 x Glonass-M (Kosmos 2475, Kosmos 2476, Kosmos 2477)KhSCSUCCESS
- 2010Long March 4C | Feng Yun-3BCASCSUCCESS
- 2006Delta IV M | DMSP F-17USAFSUCCESS
- 1998Proton-K/DM-2M | PAS 8KhSCSUCCESS
- 1996Pegasus XL | High Energy Transient Explorer (HETE) & Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-B (SAC-B)OSCFAILURE
- 1995Delta II | RadarsatUSAFSUCCESS
- 1994Zenit-2 | Resurs-O1RFSASUCCESS
- 1986Soyuz U | Zenit-8 40CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Proton-K/D-1 | Venera-14CCCPSUCCESS
- 1980Tsiklon-2 | US-P 9CCCPSUCCESS
- 1975Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 52CCCPSUCCESS
- 1975Kosmos-3M | Parus 4CCCPSUCCESS
- 1974Soyuz 11A511M | Zenit-4MT 7CCCPSUCCESS
- 1969Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-I 6CCCPSUCCESS
- 1965Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U2-V 2CCCPSUCCESS
- 1964Thor SLV-2A Agena D | P-698BK Group 3-D 1USAFSUCCESS
- 1962Molniya 8K78 | Mars 2aCCCPFAILURE
- 1959Little Joe | LJ-1ANASAPARTIAL
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
SPONSORED
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.