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September 13 in spaceflight

15 orbital launches flew on September 13, the earliest of them in 1960, and 14 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 6 spaceflight and astronomy events on September 13. Below are the pictures NASA published on September 13 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

15MISSIONS

14 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1960, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

6ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from -509 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

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

Published on September 13

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

NASA Science

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

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.

© Joao Yordanov Serralheiro — 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

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 13

  3. 1906

    The Santos-Dumont 14-bis makes a short hop, the first flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe.

    Santos-Dumont 14-bis ↗

  4. 1959

    The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 (model pictured) struck the Moon, the first spacecraft to reach another celestial body.

    Luna 2 ↗

  5. 1971

    Following a failed coup attempt, Mao Zedong's second-in-command Lin Biao died in a plane crash while attempting to flee China.

    Project 571 ↗

  6. 1971

    Chairman Mao Zedong's second in command and successor Marshal Lin Biao flees China after the failure of an alleged coup. His plane crashes in Mongolia, killing all aboard.

    Mao Zedong ↗

Every launch on September 13

15 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-10SpXSUCCESS
  2. 2025Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat | Glonass-K1 No. 18 (Kosmos 2595) & Kosmos 2596VKSSUCCESS
  3. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 9-6SpXSUCCESS
  4. 2022Long March 7A | ChinaSat 1ECASCSUCCESS
  5. 2016Shavit-2 | Ofeq-11IAISUCCESS
  6. 2012Atlas V 401 | NROL-36 (Multipayload mission)ULASUCCESS
  7. 1991Proton | US-KS 5CCCPSUCCESS
  8. 1984Kosmos-3M | Parus 45CCCPSUCCESS
  9. 1984Soyuz U | Zenit-4MKT 26 (Kosmos 1597)CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1977Delta 3914 | OTS 1USAFFAILURE
  11. 1977Kosmos-3M | Parus 10CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1977Soyuz U | Zenit-2M 81CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1964Voskhod | Zenit-4 4CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1961Atlas LV-3B | Mercury-Atlas 4NASASUCCESS
  15. 1960Thor Agena A | Discoverer 15USAFSUCCESS

FIELD KIT / LIBRARY

SPONSORED

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

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  • 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.