CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1997-0009
MOLNIYA 3-17
MOLNIYA 3-17 (NORAD 12915) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 9 January 1997, after 15 years, 2 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
12915
International designator
1981-105A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
17 Oct 1981Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
9 Jan 1997UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
15 years, 2 months5,563 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
62.3°N to 62.3°SFinal inclination 62.3°
Mass
1,750 kg
Operator
NPO PM / MSvyaz
Built by
NPO PM
Bus
Molniya-3
Programme
Molniya-3
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 62.3°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 62.3°N and 62.3°S.
Life in orbit
15 years, 2 monthsMOLNIYA 3-17’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 9 Jan 1997
1 entryFrom the same launch
1981-105
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1997-0009
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1997-0009
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.