CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1977-0176
WESTFORD NEEDLES
WESTFORD NEEDLES (NORAD 2499) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 12 April 1977.
Official dateFragment record
NORAD number
2499
International designator
1963-014AF
Object type
Fragment
Country
United States
Parent launched
9 May 1963Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
12 Apr 1977UTC calendar day
Time since launch
13 years, 11 months5,087 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
—
Where it came down
Not on recordNo position was recorded for this re-entry. Its final orbit is not on record.
Life in orbit
WESTFORD NEEDLES’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 12 Apr 1977
3 entriesFrom the same launch
1963-014
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1977-0176
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1977-0176
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.