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December 19 in spaceflight

36 orbital launches flew on December 19, the earliest of them in 1960, and 34 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on December 19. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 19 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

36MISSIONS

34 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2024.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

4ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1972 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 19, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on December 19

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.

© Robert Nemiroff — 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.

NASA · public domain

What happened on December 19

  1. 1972

    Apollo program: The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.

    Apollo program ↗

  3. 2013

    The European Space Agency's spacecraft Gaia was launched with the goal of constructing the largest and most precise star catalogue ever made.

    European Space Agency ↗

Every launch on December 19

36 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2024Ceres-1S | Tianqi 33-36GESUCCESS
  2. 2023New Shepard | NS-24BOSUCCESS
  3. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-34SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2021Falcon 9 Block 5 | Türksat 5BSpXSUCCESS
  5. 2020Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-108SpXSUCCESS
  6. 2018Soyuz STA/Fregat | CSO-1ASASUCCESS
  7. 2018GSLV Mk II | GSAT-7AISROSUCCESS
  8. 2014Strela | Kondor-EKhSCSUCCESS
  9. 2013Soyuz STB/Fregat-MT | GaiaASASUCCESS
  10. 2012Ariane 5 ECA | Skynet 5D & Mexsat-3ASASUCCESS
  11. 2012Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-07MRFSASUCCESS
  12. 2012SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF23VGSUCCESS
  13. 2011Long March 3B/E | NigComSat-1RCASCSUCCESS
  14. 2006Kosmos-3M | SAR-Lupe 1NPSUCCESS
  15. 1998Long March 2C/SD | Iridium 88 & 89CASCSUCCESS
  16. 1991Proton | Raduga 28CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1985Kosmos-3M | Parus 52CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1984K65M-RB | BOR-4 407CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1981Soyuz U | Yantar-2K 23CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1981Atlas E/SVS | Navstar 7USAFFAILURE
  21. 1978Proton-K/DM | Gorizont 1CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1978Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 17CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1976Titan IIID | KH-11 1USAFSUCCESS
  24. 1975Kosmos-3M | DS-P1-M 7CCCPFAILURE
  25. 1974Delta 2914 | Symphonie 1USAFSUCCESS
  26. 1973Kosmos-3M | Strela-1M 57-64CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1971Molniya-M | Molniya-1 19CCCPSUCCESS
  28. 1968Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U2-GK 1CCCPSUCCESS
  29. 1968Thor Delta M | INTELSAT III F-2USAFSUCCESS
  30. 1967Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-U1-G 2CCCPSUCCESS
  31. 1966Vostok 8A92 | Zenit-2 44CCCPSUCCESS
  32. 1964Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4A 15USAFSUCCESS
  33. 1963Scout X-4 | Explorer 19NASASUCCESS
  34. 1963Vostok 8A92 | Zenit-2 15CCCPSUCCESS
  35. 1962Scout X-3 | Transit-5A 1USAFSUCCESS
  36. 1960Redstone MRLV | Mercury-Redstone 1ANASASUCCESS

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.