CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1981-0122
WESTFORD NEEDLES
WESTFORD NEEDLES (NORAD 2497) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 30 March 1981.
Official dateFragment record
NORAD number
2497
International designator
1963-014AE
Object type
Fragment
Country
United States
Parent launched
9 May 1963Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
30 Mar 1981UTC calendar day
Time since launch
17 years, 10 months6,535 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
85.0°N to 85.0°SFinal inclination 85.0°
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 85.0°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 85.0°N and 85.0°S.
Life in orbit
WESTFORD NEEDLES’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 30 Mar 1981
2 entriesFrom the same launch
1963-014
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1981-0122
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1981-0122
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.