Launches
ON RECORD6MISSIONS
6 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1974, the most recent 2026.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
February 13 in spaceflight
6 orbital launches flew on February 13, the earliest of them in 1974, and 6 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 4 spaceflight and astronomy events on February 13. Below are the pictures NASA published on February 13 in 4 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
IN THE RECORD4ENTRIES
Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1633 onward.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED4IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 13, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on February 13
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
2026
NASA Science
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
© Chuck Ayoub — used with the credit NASA publishes
2023
NASA Science
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
NASA · public domain
2022
NASA Science
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
NASA · public domain
2021
NASA Science
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
NASA · public domain
What happened on February 13
2004
The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics ↗2012
The first Vega rocket was launched by the European Space Agency from the Guiana Space Centre.
Vega (rocket) ↗2012
The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
European Space Agency ↗
Every launch on February 13
6 launches
ONLINE
- 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew-12SpXSUCCESS
- 2018Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-08 (69P)RFSASUCCESS
- 2012Vega | Multipayload mission, 9 satellitesESASUCCESS
- 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 33CCCPSUCCESS
- 1979Vostok 8A92M | Tselina-D 18CCCPSUCCESS
- 1974Titan 24B | KH-8 41USAFSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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- VIEW
LISTING
Cosmos — Carl Sagan
Still the best single argument for why any of this matters, and it leaves the arithmetic in. For a reader who wants the science, not just the awe.
- VIEW
LISTING
Pale Blue Dot — Carl Sagan
The case for leaving Earth, written by someone unsentimental about how hard that is. Suits readers who want the argument rather than the poster.
- VIEW
LISTING
Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir
Hard-SF problem solving in The Martian's key — for anyone who liked the engineering more than the peril. The only novel on this list.
BROWSE opens an Amazon search, not a specific recommendation.
LINKS AMAZON.COM
Sources and licences
Event text and thumbnails come from Wikipedia and are used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Images are drawn only from Wikimedia Commons, which does not accept non-free content — each thumbnail links to its file page, where its licence and author are recorded.
Launch records are from The Space Devs’ Launch Library 2. Pictures are NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day; NASA imagery is generally not subject to copyright, but individual APOD entries are frequently the property of the photographer, and each caption says which applies.