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December 17 in spaceflight

30 orbital launches flew on December 17, the earliest of them in 1962, and 29 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on December 17. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 17 in 3 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

30MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from -497 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

3IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 17, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on December 17

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

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 December 17

  1. -497

    The first Saturnalia festival is celebrated in ancient Rome.

    Saturnalia ↗

  2. 1903

    The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

    Wright brothers ↗

  3. 1957

    The United States successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

    SM-65 Atlas ↗

Every launch on December 17

30 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-13SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-99SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2025Ariane 62 | Galileo L14 (FOC FM33 & FM34)ASASUCCESS
  4. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | O3b mPower 7 & 8SpXSUCCESS
  5. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-149SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | GPS III SV07 (RRT-1)SpXSUCCESS
  7. 2023Hyperbola-1 | DEAR-1i-SpaceSUCCESS
  8. 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 4-37SpXSUCCESS
  9. 2020PSLV-XL | CMS-01 (GSAT-12R)ISROSUCCESS
  10. 2019Falcon 9 Block 5 | JCSAT-18/KACIFIC-1SpXSUCCESS
  11. 2017Soyuz-FG | Soyuz MS-07RFSASUCCESS
  12. 2015Soyuz STB/Fregat | Galileo L6 (FOC FM08-FM09)ASASUCCESS
  13. 2015Long March 2D | DAMPE ( Wukong/Monkey King )CASCSUCCESS
  14. 2011Soyuz STA/Fregat | Pléiades-HR 1A, FASat-Charlie (SSOT), 4 x ELISAASASUCCESS
  15. 2010Long March 3A | Compass-IGSO-2 (Compass-I2)CASCSUCCESS
  16. 2004Atlas V 521 | AMC 16LMTSUCCESS
  17. 2002Ariane 44L | NSS 6ASASUCCESS
  18. 1992Proton | US-KMO 2KhSCSUCCESS
  19. 1991Soyuz U | Yantar-1KFT 14CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1986Kosmos-3M | Parus 57CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1981Kosmos-3M | Radio Sputnik 3 to 8CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1976Kosmos-3M | Taifun-2 2CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1976Soyuz U | Zenit-4MK 71CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1975Molniya-M | Molniya-2 15CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1974Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-1 20 (32L)CCCPSUCCESS
  26. 1973Soyuz 11A511M | Zenit-4MT 5CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1971Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 4CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1971Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 49CCCPSUCCESS
  29. 1965Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-1 3CCCPSUCCESS
  30. 1962Atlas Agena B | Midas 6USAFFAILURE

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.