CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
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Entry no.
1981-0440

RIGIDSPHERE 1

RIGIDSPHERE 1 (NORAD 5410) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 1 September 1981, after 10 years in orbit.

Official date
NORAD number
5410
International designator
1971-067P
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
7 Aug 1971Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
1 Sep 1981UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
10 years3,678 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
87.5°N to 87.5°SFinal inclination 87.5°
Mass
10 kg
Operator
SAMSO / AFAL
Built by
AFAL / GOYR?
Bus
AVL-802
Programme
OV1 A

Where it came down

Latitude band its orbit allowed
Exact position not recorded

No position was recorded for this re-entry. Its final orbit, inclined at 87.5°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 87.5°N and 87.5°S.

Life in orbit

10 years

RIGIDSPHERE 1’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.

Also ended on 1 Sep 1981

1 entry
1981-0441SL-6 R/B(1)

From the same launch

1971-067
1971-0206OV1-201971-0219MUSKETBALL1972-0028CANNONBALL 21972-0193AVL 802 (MYLAR BALLOON)1979-0158GRIDSPHERE 21979-0514GRIDSPHERE 1In orbitOV1-21P/FW4SIn orbitLCS 4
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Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1981-0440
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