CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1977-0461
MOLNIYA 1-21
MOLNIYA 1-21 (NORAD 6231) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 1 November 1977, after 5 years in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
6231
International designator
1972-081A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
14 Oct 1972Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
1 Nov 1977UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
5 years1,844 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
64.2°N to 64.2°SFinal inclination 64.2°
Mass
1,650 kg
Operator
GUKOS RVSN
Built by
OKB-10
Bus
Molniya-1
Programme
Molniya-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 64.2°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 64.2°N and 64.2°S.
Life in orbit
5 yearsMOLNIYA 1-21’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 1 Nov 1977
1 entryFrom the same launch
1972-081
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1977-0461
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1977-0461
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.