The NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket carrying the IMAGER payload was successfully launched Nov. 21, 2012, at 10:55:00 z (5:55 a.m. EST/3:55 a.m. MST) from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Preliminary reports show that good data was received.

The primary goal of this project is to image the unique galaxy M101 in three medium ultraviolet bands to probe the dependence of the UV dust extinction features on formation and processing mechanisms.