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December 15 in spaceflight

30 orbital launches flew on December 15, the earliest of them in 1960, and 27 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on December 15. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 15 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 1960, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1965 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

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

Published on December 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.

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.

© Robert Nemiroff — used with the credit NASA publishes

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.

© Robert Nemiroff — 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.

NASA · public domain

What happened on December 15

  1. 1965

    Project Gemini: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7.

    Project Gemini ↗

  2. 1970

    The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 touched down on the surface of Venus, making the first successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet.

    Venera 7 ↗

  3. 1970

    Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet.

    Venera 7 ↗

Every launch on December 15

30 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-82SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2023Long March 5 | Yaogan 41CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2023Electron | The Moon God Awakens (QPS-SAR-5)RLSUCCESS
  4. 2021Kuaizhou 1A | GeeSat x2EPFAILURE
  5. 2020Astra Rocket 3.2 | Flight 2ASFAILURE
  6. 2020Electron | The Owl's Night Begins (StriX-α)RLSUCCESS
  7. 2017Falcon 9 Full Thrust | SpX CRS-13SpXSUCCESS
  8. 2016Pegasus XL | 8 x CYGNSSOASUCCESS
  9. 2015Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-19MRFSASUCCESS
  10. 2014Proton-M Briz-M | Yamal-401ILSSUCCESS
  11. 2010Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-20RFSASUCCESS
  12. 2009Long March 4C | Yaogan Weixing 8CASCSUCCESS
  13. 2008Long March 4B | Yaogan Weixing 5CASCSUCCESS
  14. 1997Soyuz-U-PVB | Yantar-4K2 77RVSN RFSUCCESS
  15. 1995Atlas IIA | Galaxy 3RLMTSUCCESS
  16. 1989Proton | Raduga 24CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1987Kosmos-3M | Taifun-1 20CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1984Proton-K/D-1 | Vega-1CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1983Tsiklon-3 | Tselina-D 43CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1981Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Intelsat 503USAFSUCCESS
  21. 1978Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 38CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1977Delta 2914 | SakuraUSAFSUCCESS
  23. 1976Kosmos-3M | Tsikada 1CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1976Proton | TKS-VA 1 & 2CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1971Kosmos-3M | Zaliv 9CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4M 9CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1968Thor Delta N | ESSA 8USAFSUCCESS
  28. 1965Titan II GLV | Gemini VI-ANASASUCCESS
  29. 1964Scout X-4 | San Marco 1CNRSUCCESS
  30. 1960Atlas-Able | P-31USAFFAILURE

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.