CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1974-0129
NIMBUS 1
NIMBUS 1 (NORAD 872) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 16 May 1974, after 9 years, 8 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
872
International designator
1964-052A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
28 Aug 1964Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
16 May 1974UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
9 years, 8 months3,548 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
81.3°N to 81.3°SFinal inclination 98.7°
Mass
376 kg
Operator
GSFC
Built by
GE/MSVD
Bus
Nimbus
Programme
Nimbus
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 98.7°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 81.3°N and 81.3°S.
Life in orbit
9 years, 8 monthsNIMBUS 1’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 16 May 1974
1 entryFrom the same launch
1964-052
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1974-0129
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1974-0129
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.