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September 12 in spaceflight

25 orbital launches flew on September 12, the earliest of them in 1959, and 20 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 7 spaceflight and astronomy events on September 12. Below are the pictures NASA published on September 12 in 6 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

25MISSIONS

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

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

7ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1959 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

6IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for September 12, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on September 12

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

NASA Science

2026

NASA Science

Scientists are melting holes in the bottom of the world. In fact, almost 100 holes melted near the South Pole are now being used as an astronomical observatory. Astronomers with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory lowered a long string knotted with basketball-sized light detectors into each vertical lake. The water in each hole soon refreezes. The detectors attached to the strings are sensitive to blue light emitted in the surrounding clear ice. Such light results from fast-moving secondary particles liberated when high-energy neutrinos emitted by powerful processes out in the universe collide with ice molecules. IceCube has now detected many illuminating neutrinos. Pictured in 2010, one of the last of IceCube's detector strings is lowered into the freezing abyss, making IceCube the largest neutrino detector ever created. In recognition of unprecedented discoveries, it was announced earlier this week that a founding leader of the IceCube Collaboration will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.Tomorrow's picture: Moons Planet

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.

© Zhouyue Zhu — used with the credit NASA publishes

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 September 12

  1. 1959

    The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the Moon.

    Soviet Union ↗

  2. 1966

    Gemini 11, the penultimate mission of NASA's Gemini program, and the current human altitude record holder (except for the Apollo lunar missions and Artemis II).

    Gemini 11 ↗

  5. 1992

    NASA launches Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-47, which marks the 50th shuttle mission. On board are Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spacecraft, and Mark Lee and Jan Davis, the first married couple in space.

    NASA ↗

  6. 1993

    NASA launches Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51.

    STS-51 ↗

  7. 2013

    NASA confirms that its Voyager 1 probe has become the first manmade object to enter interstellar space.

    NASA ↗

Every launch on September 12

25 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Nusantara LimaSpXSUCCESS
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | BlueBird Block 1SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2023Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 7-2SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2022New Shepard | NS-23BOFAILURE
  5. 2020Kuaizhou 1A | Jilin-1-02CEPFAILURE
  6. 2020Astra Rocket 3.1 | Maiden FlightASFAILURE
  7. 2019Long March 4B | Ziyuan-2D, Tianyi MV-1, BNU-1CASCSUCCESS
  8. 2017Soyuz-FG | Soyuz MS-06RFSASUCCESS
  9. 2015Long March 3B/E | TJS-1 (TJSW-1)CASCSUCCESS
  10. 2006Long March 3A | Zhongxing 22ACASCSUCCESS
  11. 2002PSLV | KALPANA-1ISROSUCCESS
  12. 1996Delta II | GPS IIA-18USAFSUCCESS
  13. 1993Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-51LSOCSUCCESS
  14. 1992Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-47LSOCSUCCESS
  15. 1991Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-48LSOCSUCCESS
  16. 1985Ariane 3 | ECS 3 & Spacenet 3ASAFAILURE
  17. 1984Long March 2C | FSW-0 6CASCSUCCESS
  18. 1975Soyuz U | Zenit-4MT 9CCCPSUCCESS
  19. 1970Proton | Luna-16CCCPSUCCESS
  20. 1967Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-Yu 10CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1966Titan II GLV | Gemini XINASASUCCESS
  22. 1966Atlas SLV-3 Agena D | GATV 11USAFSUCCESS
  23. 1962Molniya 8K78 | Venera 2cCCCPFAILURE
  24. 1961Thor DM-21 Agena-B | Discoverer 30USAFSUCCESS
  25. 1959Vostok-L 8K72 | Luna-2CCCPSUCCESS

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.