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December 18 in spaceflight

26 orbital launches flew on December 18, the earliest of them in 1958, and 25 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on December 18. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 18 in 3 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

26MISSIONS

25 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1958, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1958 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

3IMAGES

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

Published on December 18

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.

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

What happened on December 18

  1. 1958

    The United States launched SCORE (rocket pictured), the world's first communications satellite.

    SCORE (satellite) ↗

  3. 1966

    Epimetheus, one of the moons of Saturn, was discovered, but was mistaken for Janus; it took twelve years to determine that they are two distinct objects sharing the same orbit.

    Epimetheus (moon) ↗

  4. 1966

    Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker.

    Saturn ↗

  5. 1973

    Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.

    Soyuz programme ↗

  6. 1999

    NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.

    NASA ↗

Every launch on December 18

26 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Electron | Don't Be Such A Square (STP-S30)RLSUCCESS
  2. 2024KAIROS | Flight 2Space OneFAILURE
  3. 2021Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 4-4SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2020Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | OneWeb 4ASASUCCESS
  5. 2019Soyuz STB/Fregat | CSG-1, CHEOPS, & othersASASUCCESS
  6. 2016Atlas V 431 | Echostar 19 (Jupiter-2)ULASUCCESS
  7. 2014Soyuz STB/Fregat | O3b FM9-FM12ASASUCCESS
  8. 2014LVM-3 | CARE (Demo Flight)ISROSUCCESS
  9. 2012Long March 2D | Göktürk-2CASCSUCCESS
  10. 2009Ariane 5 GS | Helios 2BASASUCCESS
  11. 2006H-IIA 204 | Kiku-8JAXASUCCESS
  12. 2004Ariane 5 G+ | Helios 2A, Essaim 1, 2, 3, 4, PARASOL, Nanosat 01ASASUCCESS
  13. 2003Atlas | UHF F/O F11LMTSUCCESS
  14. 1999Atlas IIAS | TerraLMTSUCCESS
  15. 1996Atlas IIA | INMARSAT III F-3LMTSUCCESS
  16. 1995Soyuz U | Progress M-30RFSASUCCESS
  17. 1993Ariane 44L | DirecTV 1 & Thaicom 1ASASUCCESS
  18. 1992Delta II | GPS IIA-8USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1991Tsiklon-3 | AUOS-Z-AP-IK 1CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1986Tsiklon-3 | Ionozond-ECCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1974Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 25CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1973Soyuz | Soyuz 13CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1970Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 1CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1970Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 38CCCPSUCCESS
  25. 1963Atlas Agena D | KH-7 4USAFSUCCESS
  26. 1958Atlas B | SCOREUSASUCCESS

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.