CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1981-0418
OPS 4515
OPS 4515 (NORAD 10947) was deorbited in a controlled re-entry on 23 August 1981, after 3 years, 2 months in orbit.
Controlled re-entryOfficial date
NORAD number
10947
International designator
1978-060A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
14 Jun 1978Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
23 Aug 1981UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
3 years, 2 months1,166 days
How it ended
Deorbited (controlled re-entry)
Latitude range
83.1°N to 83.1°SFinal inclination 96.9°
Mass
8,556 kg
Operator
NRO / CIA
Built by
TRW
Bus
KH-11
Programme
KH-11
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 96.9°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 83.1°N and 83.1°S.
Life in orbit
3 years, 2 monthsOPS 4515’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1978-060
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1981-0418
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1981-0418
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.