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December 13 in spaceflight

22 orbital launches flew on December 13, the earliest of them in 1962, and 22 reached orbit. Wikipedia records 3 spaceflight and astronomy events on December 13. Below are the pictures NASA published on December 13 in 5 different years — each one taken or released on this exact date.

DATE

Launches

ON RECORD

22MISSIONS

22 of them reached orbit. The earliest was 1962, the most recent 2025.

Recorded events

IN THE RECORD

3ENTRIES

Spaceflight and astronomy entries from Wikipedia's record of this date, oldest first — from 1809 onward.

Pictures from this date

PUBLISHED

5IMAGES

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

Published on December 13

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

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

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.

© The Deep Sky Collective — used with the credit NASA publishes

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 December 13

  1. 1809

    Napoleonic Wars: While transporting supplies to Guadeloupe, French commodore François

    Napoleonic Wars ↗

  2. 1962

    NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.

    NASA ↗

  3. 1972

    Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.

    Apollo program ↗

Every launch on December 13

22 launches

ONLINE
  1. 2025Kuaizhou 11 | DEAR-5EPSUCCESS
  2. 2024Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 11-2SpXSUCCESS
  3. 2022Ariane 5 ECA+ | Galaxy 35 & 36, MTG-I1ASASUCCESS
  4. 2021Long March 3B | Tianlian 2-02CASCSUCCESS
  5. 2021Proton-M/Briz-M | Ekspress-AMU3 & AMU7KhSCSUCCESS
  6. 2020Falcon 9 Block 5 | Sirius SXM-7SpXSUCCESS
  7. 2018SpaceShipTwo | VSS Unity VP-03VGSUCCESS
  8. 2015Proton-M Briz-M | Garpun No. 12L (Kosmos-2513)KhSCSUCCESS
  9. 2014Atlas V 541 | NROL-35 (USA-259)ULASUCCESS
  10. 1985Soyuz U | Resurs-F1 17F41 56LCCCPSUCCESS
  11. 1985Scout G-1 | ITV 1 & 2USAFSUCCESS
  12. 1980Titan 34B | Quasar 4USAFSUCCESS
  13. 1977Kosmos-3M | DS-P1-M 13CCCPSUCCESS
  14. 1975Delta 3914 | Satcom 1USAFSUCCESS
  15. 1974Soyuz U | Yantar-2K 2CCCPSUCCESS
  16. 1973Titan IIIC | DSCS-2 3 & 4USAFSUCCESS
  17. 1973Kosmos 11K63 | DS-P1-I 14CCCPSUCCESS
  18. 1967Thor Delta E1 | Pioneer 8USAFSUCCESS
  19. 1964Thor DM-21 Ablestar | Transit-O 2 & 5E-5USAFSUCCESS
  20. 1963Kosmos-2I 63S1 | Omega 2CCCPSUCCESS
  21. 1962Thor Delta B | Relay 1USAFSUCCESS
  22. 1962Thor Agena D | Poppy 3A & 3BUSAFSUCCESS

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.