CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1986-0285
OSO 8
OSO 8 (NORAD 7970) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 9 July 1986, after 11 years in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
7970
International designator
1975-057A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
21 Jun 1975Cape Canaveral
Re-entered (UTC)
9 Jul 1986UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
11 years4,036 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
32.9°N to 32.9°SFinal inclination 32.9°
Mass
1,064 kg
Operator
GSFC
Built by
Hughes
Bus
HS-331
Programme
OSO
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 32.9°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 32.9°N and 32.9°S.
Life in orbit
11 yearsOSO 8’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 9 Jul 1986
2 entriesFrom the same launch
1975-057
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1986-0285
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1986-0285
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.