Launches
ON RECORD24MISSIONS
21 of them succeeded. The earliest was in 1959 and the latest in 2026.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
February 28 in spaceflight
24 launches flew on February 28, the earliest of them in 1959, and 21 of them succeeded. Wikipedia lists 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 28. Pick another date to see what happened on it.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD6ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia for this date, oldest first, starting in 1959.
Pictures from this date
NONE0IMAGES
There's no Astronomy Picture of the Day we can show for this date.
What happened on February 28
1959
Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.
Discoverer 1 ↗1966
American test pilots Charles Bassett and Elliot See die in a plane crash in St. Louis, Missouri.
Charles Bassett ↗1966
A NASA T-38 Talon crashes into the McDonnell Aircraft factory while attempting a poor-visibility landing at Lambert Field, St. Louis, killing astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett.
Northrop T-38 Talon ↗1997
GRB 970228, a highly luminous 80-second flash of gamma rays, was detected on Earth, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.
GRB 970228 ↗2024
Prime Minister Modi of India inaugurates the 2nd Space Port of India - Kulasekarapattinam Spaceport.
Prime minister ↗
Launches on February 28Archive read 2026-11-05. Anything after that isn't listed here.
24 launches
ONLINE
- 2026HASTE | That's Not A Knife (DART AE)RLSUCCESS
- 2022Electron | The Owl’s Night Continues (StriX-β)RLSUCCESS
- 2021Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Arktika-M No.1RFSASUCCESS
- 2021PSLV-DL | Amazonia 1 & 18 othersISROSUCCESS
- 2009Proton | Raduga-1 8KhSCSUCCESS
- 2006Proton-M Briz-M | Arabsat 4AKhSCFAILURE
- 2005Soyuz U | Progress M-52RFSASUCCESS
- 1999Proton | Raduga-1 4KhSCSUCCESS
- 1998Atlas IIAS | INTELSAT 806LMTSUCCESS
- 1991Proton | Raduga 27CCCPSUCCESS
- 1990Soyuz-U2 | Progress M-3CCCPSUCCESS
- 1990Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-36LSOCSUCCESS
- 1990Tsiklon-3 | Okean-O1 5CCCPSUCCESS
- 1989Tsiklon-3 | Meteor-2 18CCCPSUCCESS
- 1984Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 5CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Titan 24B | KH-8 51USAFSUCCESS
- 1978Kosmos-3M | Parus 13CCCPSUCCESS
- 1975Kosmos-3M | Strela-1M 81-88CCCPSUCCESS
- 1973Kosmos-3M | Tselina-O 18CCCPSUCCESS
- 1967Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-1 6CCCPSUCCESS
- 1966Thor Delta E | ESSA 2USAFSUCCESS
- 1964Thor SLV-2A Agena D | P-698BK Group 1-AUSAFSUCCESS
- 1963Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4 19USAFFAILURE
- 1959Thor Agena A | Discoverer 1USAFFAILURE
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
SPONSORED
Astronomy and spaceflight books for a general reader. No textbooks.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Buying through these links doesn't cost you anything extra.
- VIEW
LISTING
Cosmos, by Carl Sagan
Sagan's tour of the universe and how we came to understand it. It keeps the science in.
- VIEW
LISTING
Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan
Sagan's case for people leaving Earth one day, and an honest look at how hard that would be.
- VIEW
LISTING
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
A science-fiction novel from the author of The Martian, built around solving one engineering problem after another.
BROWSE opens an Amazon search. It isn't a pick of one product.
LINKS AMAZON.COM
Sources and licences
Event text and thumbnails come from Wikipedia and are used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Images come only from Wikimedia Commons, which doesn't accept non-free content. Each thumbnail links to its file page, which lists its licence and author.
Launch records are from The Space Devs’ Launch Library 2. Pictures are NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. Many of them belong to the photographer or a partner agency, so we only show the ones credited to NASA alone.