CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1980-0013
TD 1A
TD 1A (NORAD 5879) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 9 January 1980, after 7 years, 9 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
5879
International designator
1972-014A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
ESRO
Launched
12 Mar 1972Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
9 Jan 1980UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
7 years, 9 months2,859 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
82.5°N to 82.5°SFinal inclination 97.5°
Mass
460 kg
Operator
ESRO
Built by
MATRA
Bus
TD-1
Programme
TD-1A
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 97.5°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 82.5°N and 82.5°S.
Life in orbit
7 years, 9 monthsTD 1A’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1972-014
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1980-0013
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1980-0013
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.