On this day, back in 2017, the NOAA’s JPSS-1 satellite was launched into orbit onboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. Once the satellite reached polar orbit, its official name was changed to NOAA-20 in order to maintain the NOAA’s consistent naming conventions.

On May 30, 1971, Mariner 9 was launched from LC-36B at Cape Canaveral. It was a potentially historic launch because if it was successful, it would be the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. However, Mariner 9 wouldn’t be alone on its journey; in fact, it would be in a race.

On October 28, 2009, at 8:30 a.m. PT, Ares I-X was launched from John F. Kennedy Space Center as part of NASA’s Constellation program. Ares I-X was the first-stage prototype and demonstrator for the Ares I, which was supposed to be a crew launch vehicle. Unfortunately, the Constellation program would never achieve its full potential.

The Soviet Union’s “Zond” program, which means “probe” in Russian, consisted of 17 spacecraft, the last of which launched on this day back in 1970. It was called Zond 8, and it marked the end of the Zond program despite two more Zond spacecraft having been planned to launch after it.