CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1987-0474
WESTFORD NEEDLES
WESTFORD NEEDLES (NORAD 3253) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 17 October 1987.
Official dateFragment record
NORAD number
3253
International designator
1963-014BT
Object type
Fragment
Country
United States
Parent launched
9 May 1963Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
17 Oct 1987UTC calendar day
Time since launch
24 years, 5 months8,927 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
—
Where it came down
Not on recordNo position was recorded for this re-entry. Its final orbit is not on record.
Life in orbit
Also ended on 17 Oct 1987
14 entries1987-0468WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0469WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0470WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0471WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0472WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0473WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0475WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0476WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0477WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0478WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0479WESTFORD NEEDLES1987-0480WESTFORD NEEDLES+2 more
From the same launch
1963-014
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1987-0474
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1987-0474
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.