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August 13 in spaceflight

14 orbital launches flew on August 13, the earliest of them in 1959, and 14 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on August 13. Below are the pictures NASA published on August 13 in 4 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

14MISSIONS

14 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1959, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

2ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1898 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

4IMAGES

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

Published on August 13

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

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

Tidally locked in synchronous rotation, the Moon always presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth. From lunar orbit, the Moon's farside can become familiar, though. In fact this sharp picture, a mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide angle camera, is centered on the lunar farside. Part of a global mosaic of over 15,000 images acquired between November 2009 and February 2011, the highest resolution version shows features at a scale of 100 meters per pixel. Surprisingly, the rough and battered surface of the farside looks very different from the nearside covered with smooth dark lunar maria. A likely explanation is that the farside crust is thicker, making it harder for molten material from the interior to flow to the surface and form dark, smooth maria.Tomorrow's picture: Sunday's Childe

NASA · public domain

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

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

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 August 13

  1. 1898

    Carl Gustav Witt discovers 433 Eros, the first near-Earth asteroid to be found.

    Carl Gustav Witt ↗

  2. 1969

    The Apollo 11 astronauts enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York City. That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.

    Apollo 11 ↗

Every launch on August 13

14 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Long March 5B/YZ-2 | SatNet LEO Group 08CASCSUCCESS
  2. 2025Vulcan VC4S | USSF-106ULASUCCESS
  3. 2025Ariane 62 | Metop-SG A1ASASUCCESS
  4. 2014Atlas V 401 | WorldView-3ULASUCCESS
  5. 2005Soyuz-FG | Galaxy 14RFSASUCCESS
  6. 2003Pegasus XL | SCISAT-1OSCSUCCESS
  7. 1998Soyuz-U | Soyuz TM-28RFSASUCCESS
  8. 1992Long March 2E | Optus B1CASCSUCCESS
  9. 1981Soyuz U | Yantar-2K 21CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1975Voskhod | Zenit-4MK 48CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1972Scout D-1 | Explorer 46NASASUCCESS
  12. 1969Kosmos-3M | Zaliv 3CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1965Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Transit-O 5USAFSUCCESS
  14. 1959Thor Agena A | Discoverer 5USAFSUCCESS

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.