Launches
ON RECORD17MISSIONS
14 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1957, the most recent 2024.
MARKED ON THIS DATE
1957 · 69 years ago today
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 reached orbit and broadcast a tone that anyone with a shortwave radio could hear, opening the space age.
read more2004 · 22 years ago today
The Ansari X Prize is won
SpaceShipOne flew above a hundred kilometres twice within two weeks and took the ten-million-dollar prize.
read more
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
October 4 in spaceflight
17 orbital launches flew on October 4, the earliest of them in 1957, and 14 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 4. Below are the pictures NASA published on October 4 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD3ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1693 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED6IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 4, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on October 4
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
2026
NASA Science
Tidally locked in synchronous rotation, the Moon always presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth. From lunar orbit, the Moon's farside can become familiar, though. In fact this sharp picture, a mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide angle camera, is centered on the lunar farside. Part of a global mosaic of over 15,000 images acquired between November 2009 and February 2011, the highest resolution version shows features at a scale of 100 meters per pixel. Surprisingly, the rough and battered surface of the farside looks very different from the nearside covered with smooth dark lunar maria. A likely explanation is that the farside crust is thicker, making it harder for molten material from the interior to flow to the surface and form dark, smooth maria.Tomorrow's picture: Sunday's Childe
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.
© Gabriel Zaparolli — used with the credit NASA publishes
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
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
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 October 4
Every launch on October 4
17 launches
ONLINE
- 2024Vulcan VC2S | Certification Flight 2ULASUCCESS
- 2022Atlas V 531 | SES-20 & SES-21ULASUCCESS
- 2019Long March 4C | Gaofen-10RCASCSUCCESS
- 2012Delta IV M+(4,2) | GPS IIF-3 (USA-239)ULASUCCESS
- 1991Soyuz-U-PVB | Foton 7CCCPSUCCESS
- 1990Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 8CCCPFAILURE
- 1984Molniya-M | US-K 38CCCPSUCCESS
- 1978Kosmos-3M | Strela-1M 153-160CCCPSUCCESS
- 1976Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 3CCCPFAILURE
- 1972Voskhod | Zenit-4M 43CCCPSUCCESS
- 1965Molniya-M | Luna-7CCCPSUCCESS
- 1964Thor Delta C | Explorer 21USAFSUCCESS
- 1960Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Courier 1BUSAFSUCCESS
- 1960Scout X-1 | ST-2NASASUCCESS
- 1959Little Joe | LJ-6NASAPARTIAL
- 1959Vostok-L 8K72 | Luna-3CCCPSUCCESS
- 1957Sputnik 8K74PS | Sputnik 1CCCPSUCCESS
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.