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September 15 in spaceflight

17 orbital launches flew on September 15, the earliest of them in 1967, and 16 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 2 spaceflight and astronomy events on September 15. Below are the pictures NASA published on September 15 in 4 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

Launches

ON RECORD

17MISSIONS

16 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1967, the most recent 2023.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

2ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1830 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

4IMAGES

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for September 15, one per year. Some are public domain and some belong to the photographer — each says which.

Published on September 15

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

Find the Man in the Moon

2024

Find the Man in the Moon

Have you ever seen the Man in the Moon? This common question plays on the ability of humans to see pareidolia -- imagining familiar icons where they don't actually exist. The textured surface of Earth's full Moon is home to numerous identifications of iconic objects, not only in modern western culture but in world folklore throughout history. Examples, typically dependent on the Moon's perceived orientation, include the Woman in the Moon and the Rabbit in the Moon. One facial outline commonly identified as the Man in the Moon starts by imagining the two dark circular areas -- lunar maria -- here just above the Moon's center, to be the eyes. Surprisingly, there actually is a man in this Moon image -- a close look will reveal a real person -- with a telescope -- silhouetted against the Moon. This well-planned image was taken in 2016 in Cadalso de los Vidrios in Madrid, Spain. Observe the Moon Night: NASA Coverage

© Dani Caxete — used with the credit NASA publishes

Venus, Moon, and the Smoking Mountain

2023

Venus, Moon, and the Smoking Mountain

Venus has returned, now appearing in planet Earth's predawn skies as a brilliant morning star. From a window seat on a flight to Mexico City, the bright celestial beacon was captured just before sunrise in this astronomical snapshot, taken on September 12. Venus, at the upper right, shared the early twilight with an old crescent Moon. Seen from this stratospheric perspective, mountain peaks and clouds appear in silhouette along a glowing eastern horizon. The dramatic, long, low cloud bank was created by ongoing venting from planet Earth's active volcano Popocatépetl.

© Luis Miguel Meade Rodríguez — used with the credit NASA publishes

Harvest Moon over Sicily

2022

Harvest Moon over Sicily

For northern hemisphere dwellers, September's Full Moon was the Harvest Moon. Reflecting warm hues at sunset it rises over the historic town of Castiglione di Sicilia in this telephoto view from September 9. Famed in festival, story, and song Harvest Moon is just the traditional name of the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox. According to lore the name is a fitting one. Despite the diminishing daylight hours as the growing season drew to a close, farmers could harvest crops by the light of a full moon shining on from dusk to dawn. Harvest Full Moon 2022: Notable Submissions to APOD

© Dario Giannobile — used with the credit NASA publishes

Cyclone Paths on Planet Earth

2021

Cyclone Paths on Planet Earth

Where on Earth do cyclones go? Usually known as hurricanes when in the Atlantic Ocean and typhoons when in the Pacific, the featured map shows the path of all major storms from 1985 through 2005. The map shows graphically that cyclones usually occur over water, which makes sense since evaporating warm water gives them energy. The map also shows that cyclones never cross -- and rarely approach -- the Earth's equator, since the Coriolis effect goes to zero there, and cyclones need the Coriolis force to circulate. The Coriolis force also causes cyclone paths to arc away from the equator. Although long-term trends remain a topic of research, evidence indicates that hurricanes have become, on the average, more powerful in the North Atlantic over the past 30 years, and their power is projected to keep increasing. Follow APOD on Instagram in: English, Farsi, Indonesian, Persian, or Portuguese

NASA · public domain

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What happened on September 15

  2. 1968

    The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.

    Soviet Union ↗

Every launch on September 15

17 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2023Soyuz 2.1a | Soyuz MS-24RFSASUCCESS
  2. 2023Firefly Alpha | FLTA003 (VICTUS NOX)FASUCCESS
  3. 2022Electron | The Owl Spreads Its Wings (StriX-1)RLSUCCESS
  4. 2020Long March 11 | Jilin-1 High Resolution 03B 01-06 & 03C 01-03CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2018Delta II 7420-10 | ICESat-2ULASUCCESS
  6. 2016Long March 2F/G | Tiangong-2CASCSUCCESS
  7. 2002Kaituozhe-1 | Hangtian Tsinghua 1-01CASCFAILURE
  8. 1989Soyuz U | Bion 9CCCPSUCCESS
  9. 1988Soyuz U | Yantar-4K2 41CCCPSUCCESS
  10. 1987Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F40 107L 6CCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1982Soyuz U | Yantar-2K 27CCCPSUCCESS
  12. 1981Soyuz U | Zenit-6U 47CCCPSUCCESS
  13. 1976Titan 24B | KH-8 47USAFSUCCESS
  14. 1976Soyuz-U | Soyuz 22CCCPSUCCESS
  15. 1972Voskhod | Zenit-2M 32CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1969R-36O 8K69 | OGCh 21CCCPSUCCESS
  17. 1967Thorad SLV-2G Agena D | KH-4B 1USAFSUCCESS

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.

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