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December 20 in spaceflight

31 orbital launches flew on December 20, the earliest of them in 1960, and 29 reached orbit. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 20 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

31MISSIONS

29 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, 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 20, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on December 20

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.

© Marcella Pace — 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.

© Giorgia Hofer — used with the credit NASA publishes

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

Every launch on December 20

31 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025New Shepard | NS-37BOSUCCESS
  2. 2025Long March 5 | TJSW-23CASCSUCCESS
  3. 2024Long March 3B/E | TJSW-12CASCSUCCESS
  4. 2019Atlas V N22 | CST-100 Starliner Orbital Flight TestULASUCCESS
  5. 2019Long March 4B | CBERS-4ACASCSUCCESS
  6. 2016Epsilon | ERG (ARASE)JAXASUCCESS
  7. 2013Long March 3B/E | Túpac Katari 1CASCSUCCESS
  8. 2009Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-17RFSASUCCESS
  9. 2008Ariane 5 ECA | Eutelsat W2M & Hot Bird 9ASASUCCESS
  10. 2007Delta II 7925-9.5 | GPS IIR-M-5 (USA-199)ULASUCCESS
  11. 2002Dnepr | AATiS-OSCAR-49ISCKSUCCESS
  12. 2000Long March 3A | Beidou Daohang Shiyan Wei. 2CASCSUCCESS
  13. 2000Ariane 5 G | Astra 2D & GE-8, LDREXASASUCCESS
  14. 1999Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-103NASASUCCESS
  15. 1997Delta II | Iridium 45 to 49USAFSUCCESS
  16. 1997Soyuz U | Progress M-37RFSASUCCESS
  17. 1996Titan 404A | KH-11 12USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1996Kosmos-3M | Parus 87NPSUCCESS
  19. 1995Tsiklon-2 | US-PM 7RFSASUCCESS
  20. 1994Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 52NPSUCCESS
  21. 1990Proton | Raduga 26CCCPSUCCESS
  22. 1989Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-2CCCPSUCCESS
  23. 1984Kosmos-3M | Taifun-1B 8CCCPSUCCESS
  24. 1981Ariane 1 | Marecs 1ASASUCCESS
  25. 1978Kosmos-3M | Parus 16CCCPFAILURE
  26. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKM 8CCCPSUCCESS
  27. 1972Atlas SLV-3A Agena D | Canyon 5USAFSUCCESS
  28. 1971Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | INTELSAT IV F3USAFSUCCESS
  29. 1969Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 5CCCPSUCCESS
  30. 1966Lambda 4S | Ohsumi 2ISASFAILURE
  31. 1960Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 19USAFSUCCESS

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.