CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1988-0890
COSMOS 397 DEB
COSMOS 397 DEB (NORAD 5243) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 15 December 1988.
Official dateFragment record
NORAD number
5243
International designator
1971-015AY
Object type
Fragment
Country
USSR
Parent launched
25 Feb 1971Baikonur Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
15 Dec 1988UTC calendar day
Time since launch
17 years, 9 months6,503 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
65.5°N to 65.5°SFinal inclination 65.5°
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 65.5°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 65.5°N and 65.5°S.
Life in orbit
COSMOS 397 DEB’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1971-015
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1988-0890
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1988-0890
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.