CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1979-0608
EXPLORER 44 (SOLRAD-10)
EXPLORER 44 (SOLRAD-10) (NORAD 5317) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 15 December 1979, after 8 years, 5 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
5317
International designator
1971-058A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
8 Jul 1971Wallops
Re-entered (UTC)
15 Dec 1979UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
8 years, 5 months3,082 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
51.1°N to 51.1°SFinal inclination 51.1°
Mass
119 kg
Operator
NRL
Built by
NRL
Bus
SR 10
Programme
Solrad
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 51.1°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 51.1°N and 51.1°S.
Life in orbit
8 years, 5 monthsEXPLORER 44 (SOLRAD-10)’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1971-058
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1979-0608
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1979-0608
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.