CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1973-0456
OPS 8261
OPS 8261 (NORAD 6727) was deorbited in a controlled re-entry on 12 October 1973, after 2 months in orbit.
Controlled re-entryOfficial date
NORAD number
6727
International designator
1973-046A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
13 Jul 1973Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
12 Oct 1973Recorded time 13:02 UTC
Time in orbit
2 months91 days
How it ended
Deorbited (controlled re-entry)
Latitude range
83.8°N to 83.8°SFinal inclination 96.2°
Mass
6,582 kg
Operator
NRO / SAFSP
Built by
LMSC
Bus
KH-9
Programme
Hex I
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 96.2°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 83.8°N and 83.8°S.
Life in orbit
2 monthsOPS 8261’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 12 Oct 1973
1 entryFrom the same launch
1973-046
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1973-0456
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1973-0456
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.