CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2001-0180
MOLNIYA 1-72
MOLNIYA 1-72 (NORAD 18980) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 4 July 2001, after 13 years, 3 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
18980
International designator
1988-022A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
17 Mar 1988Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
4 Jul 2001UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
13 years, 3 months4,857 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
61.7°N to 61.7°SFinal inclination 61.7°
Mass
1,650 kg
Operator
UNKS
Built by
NPO PM
Bus
Molniya-1
Programme
Molniya-1T
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 61.7°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 61.7°N and 61.7°S.
Life in orbit
13 years, 3 monthsMOLNIYA 1-72’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1988-022
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2001-0180
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2001-0180
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.