36.268 UG Black Brant IX was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on May 10, 2013. The scientific objective of this mission is to investigate Lyman alpha escape from nearby star-forming galaxies and to quantify its relationship to the local gas-to-dust ratio using multi-object far-ultraviolet spectroscopy. The first-flight of the Far-ultraviolet Off Rowland-Circle for Imaging and Spectroscopy (FORTIS) is designed to observe extended bright HII regions of low red-shift star-forming galaxies.