Launches
ON RECORD29MISSIONS
29 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1963, the most recent 2024.
MARKED ON THIS DATE
2008 · 18 years ago today
Falcon 1 reaches orbit
On its fourth attempt Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid-fuelled rocket to reach orbit.
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ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
September 28 in spaceflight
29 orbital launches flew on September 28, the earliest of them in 1963, and 29 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 1 spaceflight and astronomy event on September 28. Below are the pictures NASA published on September 28 in 4 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD1ENTRY
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 2008 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED4IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for September 28, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on September 28
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
2026
NASA Science
How many moons can you see? The best answer is five: four orbiting Jupiter and Luna orbiting Earth. This multi-moon picture was possible because Earth's Moon moved directly in front of Jupiter last week. The featured image is a series of exposures near alignment taken from Westchester, New York, USA. The sunlit crescent of Earth's Moon, on the lower left, is overexposed, while the Moon's night side, on the upper right, is faintly illuminated by Earthshine. Lined up nearly vertically above our Moon, listed from bottom to top, are Jupiter's bright Galilean satellites: Ganymede, Io, Callisto, and Europa. Callisto, Ganymede, and Io are larger than Earth's Moon, while Europa is only slightly smaller. NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno is currently orbiting Jupiter and has made close passes near three of these moons.Tomorrow's picture: stairway to heaven
NASA · public domain
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
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.
© Ben Cooper — used with the credit NASA publishes
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 September 28
2008
Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid-fuel ground-launched vehicle to put a payload into orbit by the RatSat mission.
Falcon 1 ↗
Every launch on September 28
29 launches
ONLINE
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-9SpXSUCCESS
- 2020Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Gonets-M27, Gonets-M28, Gonets-M29 & othersVKSSUCCESS
- 2017Proton-M Briz-M | AsiaSat 9ILSSUCCESS
- 2015PSLV XL | AstrosatISROSUCCESS
- 2014Long March 2C | Shijian 11-07CASCSUCCESS
- 2012Ariane 5 ECA | Astra 2F & GSAT-10ASASUCCESS
- 2009Ares I | Ares I-XNASASUCCESS
- 2008Falcon 1 | RatSatSpXSUCCESS
- 1999Soyuz-U-PVB | Resurs F-1MRVSN RFSUCCESS
- 1998Molniya-M | Molniya-1T 91PRSCSUCCESS
- 1991Tsiklon-3 | Strela-3 67 to 72CCCPSUCCESS
- 1990Tsiklon-3 | Meteor-2 20CCCPSUCCESS
- 1989Proton | Gorizont 19CCCPSUCCESS
- 1989Tsiklon-3 | AUOS-Z-AV-IK 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1985Atlas G Centaur | Intelsat 512USAFSUCCESS
- 1984Proton | Tselina-2 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1984Tsiklon-3 | Okean-OE 2CCCPSUCCESS
- 1983Tsiklon-3 | Okean-OE 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1982Atlas SLV-3D Centaur | Intelsat 505USAFSUCCESS
- 1981Kosmos-3M | Taifun-2 9CCCPSUCCESS
- 1980Soyuz U | Progress 11CCCPSUCCESS
- 1979Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 11CCCPSUCCESS
- 1971Proton | Luna-19CCCPSUCCESS
- 1971Voskhod | Zenit-4M 22CCCPSUCCESS
- 1971Mu-4S | ShinseiISASSUCCESS
- 1967Thor Delta E1 | INTELSAT II F-4USAFSUCCESS
- 1966Titan IIIB | KH-8 2USAFSUCCESS
- 1965X-15 | Flight 150USAFSUCCESS
- 1963Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Transit 5BN-1USAFSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
SPONSORED
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.