CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1973-0469
SAMOS 2
SAMOS 2 (NORAD 70) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 21 October 1973, after 12 years, 8 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
70
International designator
1961-001A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
31 Jan 1961Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
21 Oct 1973UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
12 years, 8 months4,646 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
82.8°N to 82.8°SFinal inclination 97.2°
Mass
166 kg
Operator
USAF BMD
Built by
LMSD/Sunnyvale
Bus
Samos
Programme
SAMOS F-1
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 97.2°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 82.8°N and 82.8°S.
Life in orbit
12 years, 8 monthsSAMOS 2’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 21 Oct 1973
2 entriesFrom the same launch
1961-001
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1973-0469
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1973-0469
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.