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December 16 in spaceflight

33 orbital launches flew on December 16, the earliest of them in 1962, and 33 reached orbit. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 16 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

33MISSIONS

33 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1962, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

NONE FOUND

0ENTRIES

Wikipedia records no spaceflight or astronomy event on this date.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 16, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on December 16

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.

© 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.

© Fefo Bouvier — used with the credit NASA publishes

Every launch on December 16

33 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Atlas V 551 | Amazon Leo (LA-04)ULASUCCESS
  2. 2025Long March 4B | Ziyuan-3-04CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2024Long March 2D | PIESAT-2 09-12CASCSUCCESS
  4. 2024Long March 5B/YZ-2 | SatNet LEO Group 01CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2023Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Arktika-M No.2RFSASUCCESS
  6. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | O3b mPower 1 & 2SpXSUCCESS
  7. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography)SpXSUCCESS
  8. 2022Long March 11 | Shiyan 21CASCSUCCESS
  9. 2019Long March 3B/YZ-1 | Beidou-3 M19 & M20CASCSUCCESS
  10. 2018Electron | This One's For Pickering (VCLS ELaNa XIX)RLSUCCESS
  11. 2015PSLV-CA | TeLEOS-1ACLSUCCESS
  12. 2006Minotaur I | Tacsat 2OSCSUCCESS
  13. 1994Proton | Altair 13L (Luch 1)KhSCSUCCESS
  14. 1993Atlas IIAS | Telstar 401USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1991Ariane 44L | Telecom 2AASASUCCESS
  16. 1988Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 42CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1986Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 27CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1982Soyuz U | Yantar-4K1 6CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1980Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 31CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1979Soyuz U | Soyuz T-1CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1978Delta 3914 | Anik BUSAFSUCCESS
  22. 1977Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 16CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1975Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 53CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1975Feng Bao 1 | JSSW 2CASCSUCCESS
  25. 1973Delta 1900 | AE-CUSAFSUCCESS
  26. 1972Scout D-1 | Aeros 1NASASUCCESS
  27. 1971Voskhod | Zenit-4M 29CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1970Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 7CCCPSUCCESS
  29. 1968Molniya-M | Molniya-1Yu 15LCCCPSUCCESS
  30. 1967Voskhod | Zenit-2 57CCCPSUCCESS
  31. 1965R-36O 8K69 | OGCh 1CCCPSUCCESS
  32. 1965Thor Delta E | Pioneer 6USAFSUCCESS
  33. 1962Scout X-3 | Explorer 16NASASUCCESS

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.