CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1978-0532
WESTFORD NEEDLES
WESTFORD NEEDLES (NORAD 5996) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 31 December 1978.
Official dateFragment record
NORAD number
5996
International designator
1963-014DC
Object type
Fragment
Country
United States
Parent launched
9 May 1963Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
31 Dec 1978UTC calendar dayAlso recorded as 30 Oct 1976
Time since launch
15 years, 7 months5,715 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
87.3°N to 87.3°SFinal inclination 87.3°
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 87.3°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 87.3°N and 87.3°S.
Life in orbit
WESTFORD NEEDLES’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 31 Dec 1978
4 entriesFrom the same launch
1963-014
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1978-0532
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1978-0532
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.