Launches
ON RECORD24MISSIONS
22 of them succeeded. The earliest was in 1964 and the latest in 2025.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
December 8 in spaceflight
24 launches flew on December 8, the earliest of them in 1964, and 22 of them succeeded. Wikipedia lists 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on December 8. Pick another date to see what happened on it.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD3ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia for this date, oldest first, starting in 2010.
Pictures from this date
NONE0IMAGES
There's no Astronomy Picture of the Day we can show for this date.
What happened on December 8
2010
The Japanese experimental spacecraft IKAROS flew by Venus at a distance of 80,800 km (50,200 mi), completing its planned mission to demonstrate solar-sail technology.
IKAROS ↗2010
With the second launch of the Falcon 9, and the first launch of the Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.
SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 1 ↗2010
The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km (50,200 mi).
Solar sail ↗
Launches on December 8Archive read 2026-11-05. Anything after that isn't listed here.
24 launches
ONLINE
- 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-92SpXSUCCESS
- 2025Long March 6A | SatNet LEO Group 15CASCSUCCESS
- 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 12-5SpXSUCCESS
- 2023Zhuque-2 | Flight 3LSSUCCESS
- 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 7-8SpXSUCCESS
- 2022Falcon 9 Block 5 | OneWeb 15SpXSUCCESS
- 2022Long March 2D | Gaofen-5-01ACASCSUCCESS
- 2021Soyuz 2.1a | Soyuz MS-20RFSASUCCESS
- 2013Proton-M Briz-M | Inmarsat-5 F1ILSSUCCESS
- 2012Proton-M / Briz-M Enhanced | Yamal-402ILSPARTIAL
- 2010Falcon 9 v1.0 | SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 1SpXSUCCESS
- 2006Ariane 5 ECA | WildBlue 1 & AMC-18ASASUCCESS
- 2006Long March 3A | Feng Yun 2DCASCSUCCESS
- 1997Atlas IIAS | Galaxy 8iLMTSUCCESS
- 1997Long March 2C/SD | Iridium 42 & 44CASCSUCCESS
- 1993Delta II | NATO 4BUSAFSUCCESS
- 1990Proton | Uragan 39 to 41CCCPSUCCESS
- 1988Soyuz-U-PVB | Zenit-8 74CCCPSUCCESS
- 1983Kosmos-3M | Parus 40CCCPSUCCESS
- 1982Molniya-M | Molniya-1K 60LCCCPFAILURE
- 1978Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 92CCCPSUCCESS
- 1977Atlas F/MSD | Parcae 2A,B,C & MSD 2USAFSUCCESS
- 1977Kosmos-3M | Taifun-2 4CCCPSUCCESS
- 1964Little Joe II | A-002NASASUCCESS
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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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.