CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1960-0002
SPUTNIK 3
SPUTNIK 3 (NORAD 8) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 6 April 1960, after 1 year, 10 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
8
International designator
1958-004B
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
15 May 1958Baikonur Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
6 Apr 1960UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
1 year, 10 months692 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
65.1°N to 65.1°SFinal inclination 65.1°
Mass
1,327 kg
Operator
OKB-1
Built by
OKB-1
Bus
Object D
Programme
ObjectD
Where it came down
Latitude band its orbit allowedExact position not recorded
No position was recorded for this re-entry. Its final orbit, inclined at 65.1°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 65.1°N and 65.1°S.
Life in orbit
1 year, 10 monthsSPUTNIK 3’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1958-004
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1960-0002
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1960-0002
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.