CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1979-0150
EXPLORER 53
EXPLORER 53 (NORAD 7788) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 9 April 1979, after 3 years, 11 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
7788
International designator
1975-037A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
7 May 1975San Marco platform
Re-entered (UTC)
9 Apr 1979UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
3 years, 11 months1,433 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
3.0°N to 3.0°SFinal inclination 3.0°
Mass
189 kg
Operator
GSFC
Built by
APL
Bus
SAS
Programme
SAS
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 3.0°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 3.0°N and 3.0°S.
Life in orbit
3 years, 11 monthsEXPLORER 53’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 9 Apr 1979
1 entryFrom the same launch
1975-037
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1979-0150
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1979-0150
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.