Launches
ON RECORD36MISSIONS
34 of them succeeded. The earliest was in 1960 and the latest in 2024.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
December 19 in spaceflight
36 launches flew on December 19, the earliest of them in 1960, and 34 of them succeeded. Wikipedia lists 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on December 19. Pick another date to see what happened on it.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD4ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia for this date, oldest first, starting in 1972.
Pictures from this date
NONE0IMAGES
There's no Astronomy Picture of the Day we can show for this date.
What happened on December 19
1972
Apollo program: The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.
Apollo program ↗1999
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-103, the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.
Space Shuttle Discovery ↗2013
The European Space Agency's spacecraft Gaia was launched with the goal of constructing the largest and most precise star catalogue ever made.
European Space Agency ↗
Launches on December 19Archive read 2026-11-05. Anything after that isn't listed here.
36 launches
ONLINE
- 2024Ceres-1S | Tianqi 33-36GESUCCESS
- 2023New Shepard | NS-24BOSUCCESS
- 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-34SpXSUCCESS
- 2021Falcon 9 Block 5 | Türksat 5BSpXSUCCESS
- 2020Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-108SpXSUCCESS
- 2018Soyuz STA/Fregat | CSO-1ASASUCCESS
- 2018GSLV Mk II | GSAT-7AISROSUCCESS
- 2014Strela | Kondor-EKhSCSUCCESS
- 2013Soyuz STB/Fregat-MT | GaiaASASUCCESS
- 2012Ariane 5 ECA | Skynet 5D & Mexsat-3ASASUCCESS
- 2012Soyuz FG | Soyuz TMA-07MRFSASUCCESS
- 2012SpaceShipTwo | VSS Enterprise GF23VGSUCCESS
- 2011Long March 3B/E | NigComSat-1RCASCSUCCESS
- 2006Kosmos-3M | SAR-Lupe 1NPSUCCESS
- 1998Long March 2C/SD | Iridium 88 & 89CASCSUCCESS
- 1991Proton | Raduga 28CCCPSUCCESS
- 1985Kosmos-3M | Parus 52CCCPSUCCESS
- 1984K65M-RB | BOR-4 407CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Soyuz U | Yantar-2K 23CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Atlas E/SVS | Navstar 7USAFFAILURE
- 1978Proton-K/DM | Gorizont 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1978Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 17CCCPSUCCESS
- 1976Titan IIID | KH-11 1USAFSUCCESS
- 1975Kosmos-3M | DS-P1-M 7CCCPFAILURE
- 1974Delta 2914 | Symphonie 1USAFSUCCESS
- 1973Kosmos-3M | Strela-1M 57-64CCCPSUCCESS
- 1971Molniya-M | Molniya-1 19CCCPSUCCESS
- 1968Kosmos 11K63 | DS-U2-GK 1CCCPSUCCESS
- 1968Thor Delta M | INTELSAT III F-2USAFSUCCESS
- 1967Kosmos-2I 63S1 | DS-U1-G 2CCCPSUCCESS
- 1966Vostok 8A92 | Zenit-2 44CCCPSUCCESS
- 1964Thor SLV-2A Agena D | KH-4A 15USAFSUCCESS
- 1963Scout X-4 | Explorer 19NASASUCCESS
- 1963Vostok 8A92 | Zenit-2 15CCCPSUCCESS
- 1962Scout X-3 | Transit-5A 1USAFSUCCESS
- 1960Redstone MRLV | Mercury-Redstone 1ANASASUCCESS
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.