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December 11 in spaceflight

30 orbital launches flew on December 11, the earliest of them in 1961, and 27 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on December 11. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 11 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

30MISSIONS

27 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 1917 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 11, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on December 11

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.

© Vikas Chander — 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

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.

© Aman Chokshi — used with the credit NASA publishes

What happened on December 11

  1. 1917

    World War I: British General Edmund Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot and declares martial law.

    World War I ↗

  2. 1972

    Apollo 17 (Lunar Roving Vehicle pictured), the last Apollo mission, landed on the Moon.

    Apollo 17 ↗

  3. 1972

    Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and final Apollo mission to land on the Moon.

    Apollo 17 ↗

Every launch on December 11

30 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Long March 12 | SatNet LEO Group 16CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-90SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Hakuto-R M1 & Lunar FlashlightSpXSUCCESS
  4. 2021New Shepard | NS-19BOSUCCESS
  5. 2020Delta IV Heavy | NROL-44ULASUCCESS
  6. 2019New Shepard | NS-12BOSUCCESS
  7. 2019PSLV-QL | RISAT-2BR1 & othersISROSUCCESS
  8. 2019Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Glonass-M No. 59 (Kosmos 2544)VKSSUCCESS
  9. 2015Zenit-3F | Elektro-L No.2RFSASUCCESS
  10. 2013SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF27VGSUCCESS
  11. 2012Atlas V 501 | OTV-3 (X-37B) (USA-240)ULASUCCESS
  12. 2011Proton-M / Briz-M Enhanced | Luch 5A & Amos-5KhSCSUCCESS
  13. 2006Proton-M Briz-M | Measat 3KhSCSUCCESS
  14. 2002Ariane 5 ECA | Hot Bird 7 & StentorASAFAILURE
  15. 1999VLS-1 | SACI-2AEBFAILURE
  16. 1998Delta 7425-9.5 | Mars Climate OrbiterUSAFSUCCESS
  17. 1996Tsiklon-2 | US-PM 8RFSASUCCESS
  18. 1989Delta 6925 | GPS-2 5USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1988Ariane 44LP | Skynet 4B & Astra 1AASASUCCESS
  20. 1985Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 19CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1978Atlas F/SVS | Navstar 4USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1977Atlas SLV-3A Agena D | Aquacade 3USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1975Kosmos-3M | DS-U2-IK 7CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1972Delta 0900 | Nimbus 5USAFSUCCESS
  25. 1971Scout B-1 | Ariel 4SERCSUCCESS
  26. 1970Thor Delta N6 | NOAA 1USAFSUCCESS
  27. 1969Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 28CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1966Atlas D | OV1-9 & 10USAFSUCCESS
  29. 1964Atlas Centaur | Surveyor Mass ModelUSAFSUCCESS
  30. 1961Vostok-K | Zenit-2 1CCCPFAILURE

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.