CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Orbital Register seal
Entry no.
1990-0020

OPS 5268 (CALSPHERE 5)

OPS 5268 (CALSPHERE 5) (NORAD 4963) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 7 January 1990, after 18 years, 10 months in orbit.

Official date
NORAD number
4963
International designator
1971-012E
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
17 Feb 1971Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
7 Jan 1990UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
18 years, 10 months6,899 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
81.8°N to 81.8°SFinal inclination 98.2°
Mass
1 kg
Operator
NRL
Built by
NRL
Bus
NRL 10"
Programme
NRL Cal

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 98.2°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 81.8°N and 81.8°S.

Life in orbit

18 years, 10 months

OPS 5268 (CALSPHERE 5)’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.

Also ended on 7 Jan 1990

2 entries
1990-0021Kosmos-1960 SS 121990-0022Kosmos-1960 SS 13

From the same launch

1971-012
1989-0826OPS 5268 (CALSPHERE 4)1989-0892OPS 5268 (CALSPHERE 3)In orbitDMSP Block 5A F-3
Orbital Register seal
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1990-0020
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.