CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1986-0375
TRANSIT 5A
TRANSIT 5A (NORAD 509) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 25 September 1986, after 23 years, 9 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
509
International designator
1962-071A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
19 Dec 1962Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
25 Sep 1986UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
23 years, 9 months8,681 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
89.4°N to 89.4°SFinal inclination 90.6°
Mass
59 kg
Operator
USN BuWeps
Built by
APL
Bus
Transit 5
Programme
Transit 5
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 90.6°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 89.4°N and 89.4°S.
Life in orbit
23 years, 9 monthsTRANSIT 5A’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 25 Sep 1986
1 entryFrom the same launch
1962-071
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1986-0375
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1986-0375
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.