Launches
ON RECORD23MISSIONS
21 of them succeeded. The earliest was in 1962 and the latest in 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
October 24 in spaceflight
23 launches flew on October 24, the earliest of them in 1962, and 21 of them succeeded. Wikipedia lists 8 spaceflight and astronomy events on October 24. Pick another date to see what happened on it.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD8ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia for this date, oldest first, starting in 1851.
Pictures from this date
NONE0IMAGES
There's no Astronomy Picture of the Day we can show for this date.
What happened on October 24
1851
Umbriel and Ariel, the third- and fourth-largest moons of Uranus, were discovered by William Lassell.
Umbriel ↗1946
A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.
V-2 No. 13 ↗
1960
Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing over 100 people, including Field Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin.
Nedelin catastrophe ↗1963
An oxygen leak from an R-9 Desna missile at the Baikonur Cosmodrome triggers a fire that kills seven people.
R-9 Desna ↗1998
Deep Space 1 is launched to explore the asteroid belt and test new spacecraft technologies.
Deep Space 1 ↗2007
Chang'e 1, the first satellite in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
Chang'e 1 ↗2014
The China National Space Administration launches an experimental lunar mission, Chang'e 5-T1, which will loop behind the Moon and return to Earth.
China National Space Administration ↗
Launches on October 24Archive read 2026-11-05. Anything after that isn't listed here.
23 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | SpainSat NG IISpXSUCCESS
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-167SpXSUCCESS
- 2021Ariane 5 ECA+ | SES-17 & Syracuse 4AASASUCCESS
- 2021Long March 3B | Shijian 21CASCSUCCESS
- 2020Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink 14SpXSUCCESS
- 2018Long March 4B | Haiyang 2BCASCSUCCESS
- 2007Long March 3A | Chang'e-1CASCSUCCESS
- 1998Delta 7326-9.5 | Deep Space 1USAFSUCCESS
- 1997Titan 403A | Onyx 3USAFSUCCESS
- 1996Molniya-M | Molniya-3 62LPRSCSUCCESS
- 1989Tsiklon-3 | Meteor-3 3CCCPSUCCESS
- 1985Tsiklon-3 | Meteor-3 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1980Molniya-M | US-K 17CCCPSUCCESS
- 1978Kosmos-3M | AUOS-Z-M-IK 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1978Delta 2910 | Nimbus 7USAFSUCCESS
- 1974Molniya-M | Molniya-1 28CCCPSUCCESS
- 1969Titan 23B | KH-8 24USAFSUCCESS
- 1969Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 26CCCPSUCCESS
- 1969Voskhod | Zenit-2M 5CCCPSUCCESS
- 1967Vostok 8A92M | Meteor-1 8CCCPSUCCESS
- 1964Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-MG 2CCCPSUCCESS
- 1963Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-A1 4CCCPFAILURE
- 1962Molniya 8K78 | Mars 1cCCCPFAILURE
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.
- 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.
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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.