Portal:Spaceflight/On This Day/12 January

• 1955 - Construction of the Baikonur Cosmodrome is authorised.
• 1959 - McDonnell is awarded a contract to build twelve Mercury spacecraft.
• 1969 - A Voskhod rocket launches a Zenit-2 spy satellite.
• 1971 - A Voskhod rocket launches a Zenit-4M spy satellite.
• 1972 - A Voskhod launches a Zenit-4M spy satellite.
• 1982 - A Soyuz-U launches a Zenit-4MT spy satellite.
• 1983 - A Parus navigation satellite launches atop a Kosmos-3M rocket.
• 1986 - Space Shuttle Columbia launches on mission STS-61-C, the last flight before the Challenger disaster, to deploy the Satcom K1 comsat.
• 1989 - A Soyuz-U rocket launches a Resurs satellite.
• 1993 - A Tsikada satellite is launched by a Kosmos-3M rocket.
• 1996 - An Ariane 4 launches the Panamsat-3R and Measat-1 comsats.
• 1997 - Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-81 to Mir.
• 2005 - A Delta II launches with the Deep Impact asteroid probe.