Launches
ON RECORD14MISSIONS
14 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1981, the most recent 2023.
ARCHIVE // DAY OF YEAR
September 4 in spaceflight
14 orbital launches flew on September 4, the earliest of them in 1981, and 14 reached orbit. Below are the pictures NASA published on September 4 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.
Recorded events
NONE FOUND0ENTRIES
Wikipedia records no spaceflight or astronomy event on this date.
Pictures from this date
PUBLISHED6IMAGES
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for September 4, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.
Published on September 4
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, for this calendar date in each of the last several years.
2026
NASA Science
How was the Saturn system imaged so clearly? Astrophotographer Tom Williams captured such exquisite details due to one night of exceptional atmospheric conditions above the United Kingdom. This means more than a cloudless sky. Pockets of air at different temperatures and densities move around and bend light as it travels through Earth’s atmosphere, distorting astronomy images. This is called “seeing.” Less atmospheric turbulence means clearer images. The astrophotographer reduced the impact of seeing with the lucky imaging technique: thousands of short-exposure images are taken very quickly with a high-speed camera and the clearest images are added up. Which object in this smörgåsbord interests you? Perhaps Titan or the icy stripes of Enceladus? Maybe the gaps and spokes in Saturn’s rings? Saturn's opposition, when Earth passes in between the planet and the Sun, occurred on October 4th. Due to the planet's proximity and full illumination from the Sun, now is a great time of year to observe it!Tomorrow's picture: bumpy
NASA · public domain
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.
© José Rodrigues — used with the credit NASA publishes
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
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.
© Dennis Huff — used with the credit NASA publishes
Every launch on September 4
14 launches
ONLINE
- 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-12SpXSUCCESS
- 2020Long March 2F/G | Chinese Reusable Space VehicleCASCSUCCESS
- 2014Long March 2D | Chuangxin 1-04 & LingqiaoCASCSUCCESS
- 2010Long March 3B | Chinasat-6ACASCSUCCESS
- 1999Ariane 42P | Mugunghwa 3ASASUCCESS
- 1997Atlas IIAS | GE 3LMTSUCCESS
- 1996Zenit-2 | Tselina-2 18RFSASUCCESS
- 1989Titan 34D Transtage | DSCS-2 15USAFSUCCESS
- 1985Kosmos-3M | Strela-2M 37CCCPSUCCESS
- 1984Proton | Uragan 8 & 9CCCPSUCCESS
- 1984Soyuz U | Zenit-8 6CCCPSUCCESS
- 1982Tsiklon-2 | US-P 15CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Kosmos-3M | Tsikada 8CCCPSUCCESS
- 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 46CCCPSUCCESS
FIELD KIT / LIBRARY
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General-audience astronomy and spaceflight — none of it a textbook.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.