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March 13 in spaceflight

20 orbital launches flew on March 13, the earliest of them in 1967, and 18 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 5 spaceflight and astronomy events on March 13. Below are the pictures NASA published on March 13 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

20MISSIONS

18 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1967, the most recent 2026.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

5ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1781 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 13, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on March 13

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.

NASA Science

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.

© Jason Perry — used with the credit NASA publishes

NASA Science

2025

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

NASA Science

2024

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

NASA Science

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

NASA Science

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

NASA Science

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 March 13

  1. 1781

    William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus from the garden of his house in Bath, England, initially considering it to be a comet.

    William Herschel ↗

  3. 1930

    The news of the discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory.

    Pluto ↗

  4. 1969

    Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.

    Apollo 9 ↗

Every launch on March 13

20 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2026Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-31SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 12-21SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2024Long March 2C/YZ-1S | DRO-A/BCASCPARTIAL
  4. 2024KAIROS | Maiden FlightSpace OneFAILURE
  5. 2023Long March 2C | Horus 2CASCSUCCESS
  6. 2021Long March 4C | Yaogan-31-04CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2016Soyuz 2.1b | Resurs-P No.3RFSASUCCESS
  8. 2015Atlas V 421 | MMSULASUCCESS
  9. 2008Atlas V 411 | NROL-28 (USA-200)ULASUCCESS
  10. 2004Atlas Agena B | MBSATLMTSUCCESS
  11. 1994Minotaur | STEP 0 & DARPASATOSCSUCCESS
  12. 1989Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-29LSOCSUCCESS
  13. 1987Tsiklon-3 | Strela-3 19 to 24CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1986Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz T-15CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1985Atlas E/OIS | Geosat 1USAFSUCCESS
  16. 1977Titan 24B | KH-8 48USAFSUCCESS
  17. 1971Thor Delta M6 | IMP 6USAFSUCCESS
  18. 1970Voskhod | Zenit-2 80CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1968Titan IIIB | KH-8 12USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1967Vostok 8A92 | Zenit-2 47CCCPSUCCESS

FIELD KIT / LIBRARY

SPONSORED

General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links here cost you nothing extra.

  • 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.

    VIEW

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.