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November 15 in spaceflight

22 orbital launches flew on November 15, the earliest of them in 1961, and 20 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 7 spaceflight and astronomy events on November 15. Below are the pictures NASA published on November 15 in 4 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

22MISSIONS

20 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1961, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

7ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1889 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

4IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for November 15, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on November 15

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.

© Robert Nemiroff — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

NASA · public domain

What happened on November 15

  1. 1889

    Brazil is declared a republic by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.

    Brazil ↗

  2. 1959

    Two men murdered a family in Holcomb, Kansas; the events became the subject of Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, a pioneering work of the true crime genre.

    Clutter family murders ↗

  3. 1966

    Project Gemini: Gemini 12 completes the program's final mission, when it splashes down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.

    Project Gemini ↗

  4. 1967

    The only fatality of the North American X-15 program occurs during the 191st flight when Air Force test pilot Michael J. Adams loses control of his aircraft which is destroyed mid-air over the Mojave Desert.

    North American X-15 ↗

  5. 1988

    The Soviet spacecraft Buran, a reusable vehicle built in response to NASA's Space Shuttle program, was launched, uncrewed, on its only flight.

    Buran (spacecraft) ↗

  6. 1988

    In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran makes its only space flight.

    Soviet Union ↗

Every launch on November 15

22 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-85SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-89SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024Long March 7 | Tianzhou-8CASCSUCCESS
  4. 2022Long March 4C | Yaogan 34-03CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2018Falcon 9 Block 5 | Es'hail 2SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2008Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-126USASUCCESS
  7. 1999H-II | MTSATJAXAFAILURE
  8. 1992Soyuz-U-PVB | Resurs-500VKSSUCCESS
  9. 1990Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-38LSOCSUCCESS
  10. 1988Energiya/Buran | Buran OK-1KCCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1986Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 69CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1985Proton-K/DM | Raduga 17CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1984Kosmos-3M | Parus 47CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1980Delta 3910/PAM | SBS 1USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1978Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKM 22CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1974Delta 2310 | NOAA 4USAFSUCCESS
  17. 1972Scout D-1 | SAS 2NASASUCCESS
  18. 1971Scout B | SSS 1NASASUCCESS
  19. 1969Voskhod | Zenit-4 67CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1967X-15 | Flight 191USAFFAILURE
  21. 1961Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Transit 4B & TRAACUSAFSUCCESS
  22. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 35USAFSUCCESS

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.