CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1979-0627
FTV 0240
FTV 0240 (NORAD 533) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 27 December 1979, after 16 years, 10 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
533
International designator
1963-005A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
19 Feb 1963Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
27 Dec 1979UTC calendar dayAlso recorded as 26 Dec 1979
Time in orbit
16 years, 10 months6,155 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
79.6°N to 79.6°SFinal inclination 100.4°
Mass
50 kg
Operator
NRO / SAFSP
Built by
RCA/East Windsor
Bus
P35
Programme
P35
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 100.4°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 79.6°N and 79.6°S.
Life in orbit
16 years, 10 monthsFTV 0240’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1963-005
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1979-0627
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1979-0627
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.