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November 12 in spaceflight

16 orbital launches flew on November 12, the earliest of them in 1960, and 16 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on November 12. Below are the pictures NASA published on November 12 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

16MISSIONS

16 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2023.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1980 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for November 12, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on November 12

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.

© Stan Honda — 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.

© Bernard Miller — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on November 12

  1. 1980

    The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.

    NASA ↗

  2. 1981

    Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a crewed spacecraft is launched into space twice.

    Space Shuttle program ↗

  3. 1995

    Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-74 to deliver the Mir Docking Module to the Russian space station Mir.

    Space Shuttle Atlantis ↗

  4. 2014

    The European Space Agency's lander Philae touched down on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, becoming the first spacecraft to land on a comet.

    European Space Agency ↗

  5. 2014

    The Philae lander, deployed from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, reaches the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

    Philae (spacecraft) ↗

Every launch on November 12

16 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | O3b mPower 5 & 6SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Galaxy 31 & 32SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2022Long March 7 | Tianzhou-5CASCSUCCESS
  4. 2020Long March 3B | Tiantong-1-02CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2017Antares 230 | Cygnus CRS OA-8 (S.S. Gene Cernan)OASUCCESS
  6. 2009Long March 2C | Shi Jian 11-01CASCSUCCESS
  7. 1997Ariane 44L | Sirius 2 & Indostar 1ASASUCCESS
  8. 1997Proton-K/DM-2M | KuponKhSCSUCCESS
  9. 1995Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-74LMSOSUCCESS
  10. 1991Tsiklon-3 | Strela-3 73 to 78CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1981Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-2ROISUCCESS
  12. 1980Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 29CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1969Voskhod | Zenit-2 78CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1966Voskhod | Zenit-4 24CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1965Molniya 8K78 | Venera-2CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1960Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 17USAFSUCCESS

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.