Launches
ON RECORD22MISSIONS
22 of them succeeded. The earliest was in 1967 and the latest in 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
September 8 in spaceflight
22 launches flew on September 8, the earliest of them in 1967, and 22 of them succeeded. Wikipedia lists 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on September 8. Pick another date to see what happened on it.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD5ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia for this date, oldest first, starting in 1944.
Pictures from this date
NONE0IMAGES
There's no Astronomy Picture of the Day we can show for this date.
What happened on September 8
1960
In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).
Huntsville, Alabama ↗2000
NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-106 to resupply the International Space Station.
Space Shuttle Atlantis ↗2004
NASA's uncrewed spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open.
Genesis (spacecraft) ↗2016
NASA launches OSIRIS-REx, its first asteroid sample return mission. The probe visited 101955 Bennu and returned with samples in September 2023.
OSIRIS-REx ↗
Launches on September 8Archive read 2026-11-05. Anything after that isn't listed here.
22 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Smart Dragon 3 | Geely Constellation Group 05CHNRSUCCESS
- 2023SpaceShipTwo | Galactic 03VGSUCCESS
- 2016Atlas V 411 | OSIRIS-RExULASUCCESS
- 2016SpaceShipTwo | VSS Unity CC01VGSUCCESS
- 2016GSLV Mk II | INSAT-3DRISROSUCCESS
- 2014Long March 4B | Yaogan 21 & Tiantuo 2CASCSUCCESS
- 2010Rokot / Briz-KM | Gonets-M12 & 2 x Strela-3 (Kosmos 2467, Kosmos 2468)VKSSUCCESS
- 2009Atlas V 401 | PAN (USA-207)ULASUCCESS
- 2005Proton-M Briz-M | Anik F1RKhSCSUCCESS
- 2005Soyuz U | Progress M-54RFSASUCCESS
- 2004Long March 4B | Shi Jian 6A & 6BCASCSUCCESS
- 2001Atlas IIAS | NROL-13LMTSUCCESS
- 2000Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-106USASUCCESS
- 1998Delta II | Iridium 77, 79 to 82USAFSUCCESS
- 1996Atlas IIA | GE 1LMTSUCCESS
- 1988Ariane 3 | GStar 3 & SBS 5ASASUCCESS
- 1984Atlas E/SGS-2 | GPS 10USAFSUCCESS
- 1983Delta 3924 | Satcom 2RUSAFSUCCESS
- 1982Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 22CCCPSUCCESS
- 1973Kosmos-3M | Sfera 10CCCPSUCCESS
- 1970Voskhod | Zenit-4M 6CCCPSUCCESS
- 1967Atlas SLV-3C Centaur | Surveyor 5USAFSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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- VIEW
LISTING
Cosmos, by Carl Sagan
Sagan's tour of the universe and how we came to understand it. It keeps the science in.
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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.
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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.
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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.