Launches
ON RECORD17MISSIONS
17 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1969, the most recent 2025.
MARKED ON THIS DATE
1958 · 68 years ago today
NASA opens
NASA began operations, absorbing the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and about eight thousand staff.
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ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
October 1 in spaceflight
17 orbital launches flew on October 1, the earliest of them in 1969, and 17 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 1 spaceflight and astronomy event on October 1. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 1 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 1958 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED4IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 1, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on October 1
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.
NASA · public domain
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
What happened on October 1
1958
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is replaced by NASA.
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ↗
Every launch on October 1
17 launches
ONLINE
- 2025HASTE | JUSTINRLSUCCESS
- 2022Firefly Alpha | FLTA002 (To The Black)FASUCCESS
- 2015Soyuz-U | Progress M-29M (61P)RFSASUCCESS
- 2010Long March 3C | Chang'e 2CASCSUCCESS
- 2009Ariane 5 ECA | Amazonas 2 & COMSATBw-1ASASUCCESS
- 2008Dnepr | ThaichoteISCKSUCCESS
- 2005Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-7RFSASUCCESS
- 2003Zenit | Galaxy 13SLSUCCESS
- 2000Proton-K/DM-2M | GE-1AKhSCSUCCESS
- 1990Delta 6925 | GPS-2 9USAFSUCCESS
- 1990Soyuz-U | Orlets-1 2CCCPSUCCESS
- 1987Proton | Potok 4CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 48CCCPSUCCESS
- 1979Titan IIIC | Vortex 9USAFSUCCESS
- 1975Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 51CCCPSUCCESS
- 1970Voskhod | Zenit-2M 12CCCPSUCCESS
- 1969Scout B | ESRO 1B (Boreas)ESROSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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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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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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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.
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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.