Launches
ON RECORD24MISSIONS
24 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1966, the most recent 2024.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
December 29 in spaceflight
24 orbital launches flew on December 29, the earliest of them in 1966, and 24 reached orbit. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 29 in 2 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
NONE FOUND0ENTRIES
Wikipedia records no spaceflight or astronomy event on this date.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED2IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 29, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on December 29
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
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
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 29
24 launches
ONLINE
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Astranis: From One to Many (4x Astranis MicroGEO)SpXSUCCESS
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 11-3SpXSUCCESS
- 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-36SpXSUCCESS
- 2023Falcon Heavy | OTV-7 (X-37B) (USSF-52)SpXSUCCESS
- 2022Long March 3B/E | Shiyan 10-02CASCSUCCESS
- 2021Long March 3B | TJSW-9CASCSUCCESS
- 2021Long March 2D | Tianhui 4CASCSUCCESS
- 2020Soyuz STA/Fregat | CSO-2ASASUCCESS
- 2018Long March 2D/YZ-3 | Hongyan-1 & Yunhai-2 Group 01CASCSUCCESS
- 2010Ariane 5 ECA | Hispasat-1E & Koreasat 6ASASUCCESS
- 2009Proton-M | DirecTV 12KhSCSUCCESS
- 2005Proton-M Briz-M | AMC 23KhSCSUCCESS
- 2003Long March 2C/SM | Tan Ce 1CASCSUCCESS
- 2002Proton-M Briz-M | Nimiq 2KhSCSUCCESS
- 2002Long March 2F | Shenzhou-4CASCSUCCESS
- 1994Soyuz U | Yantar-4KS1M 6RFSASUCCESS
- 1992Soyuz-U-PVB | Bion 10VKSSUCCESS
- 1988Soyuz U | Yantar-1KFT 10CCCPSUCCESS
- 1987Soyuz U | Zenit-8 57CCCPSUCCESS
- 1983Proton | Uragan 4 & 5CCCPSUCCESS
- 1982Kosmos-3M | Taifun-1B 4CCCPSUCCESS
- 1973Kosmos-3M | Zaliv 15CCCPSUCCESS
- 1971Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-1 10 (18L)CCCPSUCCESS
- 1966Thor SLV-2A Agena D | Multigroup 1 & Setter 1AUSAFSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.