CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1997-0380
MSTI 3
MSTI 3 (NORAD 23868) was deorbited in a controlled re-entry on 11 December 1997, after 1 year, 6 months in orbit.
Controlled re-entryOfficial date
NORAD number
23868
International designator
1996-031A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
17 May 1996Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
11 Dec 1997UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
1 year, 6 months573 days
How it ended
Deorbited (controlled re-entry)
Latitude range
82.9°N to 82.9°SFinal inclination 97.1°
Mass
211 kg
Operator
AF Phillips/GD
Built by
Spectrum Astro
Bus
SA-200S
Programme
MSTI
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 97.1°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 82.9°N and 82.9°S.
Life in orbit
1 year, 6 monthsMSTI 3’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 11 Dec 1997
2 entriesFrom the same launch
1996-031
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1997-0380
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1997-0380
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.