Skip to content
DELTA-V

ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR

November 18 in spaceflight

21 orbital launches flew on November 18, the earliest of them in 1961, and 19 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on November 18. Below are the pictures NASA published on November 18 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

21MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1812 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for November 18, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on November 18

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.

NASA · public domain

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.

© TWAN — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on November 18

  1. 1812

    Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave".

    Battle of Krasnoi ↗

  2. 1916

    World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.

    World War I ↗

  3. 2013

    NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.

    NASA ↗

Every launch on November 18

21 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025HASTE | Prometheus Run (VAN)RLSUCCESS
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | GSAT-20 (GSAT-N2)SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 9-12SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2023Starship | Integrated Flight Test 2SpXPARTIAL
  5. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-28SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2021Electron | Love At First Insight (BlackSky 10-11)RLSUCCESS
  7. 2018Long March 3B / YZ-1 | Beidou-3 M17 & M18CASCSUCCESS
  8. 2017Delta II 7920-10 | JPSS 1 (Joint Polar Satellite System spacecraft No. 1)ULASUCCESS
  9. 2013Atlas V 401 | MAVENULASUCCESS
  10. 2012Long March 2C | Huanjing 1CCASCSUCCESS
  11. 2004Long March 2C | Shiyan Weixing 2CASCSUCCESS
  12. 1997Soyuz U | Resurs F-1MRVSN RFSUCCESS
  13. 1993Proton | Rimsat G1KhSCSUCCESS
  14. 1989Delta 5920-8 | COBEUSAFSUCCESS
  15. 1988Tsiklon-2 | US-P 29CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1986Proton-K/DM | Gorizont 13CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1983Atlas E | DMSP-5D2 F7USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1982Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 69CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1970Thorad SLV-2H Agena D | KH-4B 12USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1964Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4A 14USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1961Atlas LV-3A | Ranger 2USAFFAILURE

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.