CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2002-0053
IRIDIUM 27
IRIDIUM 27 (NORAD 24947) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 1 February 2002 over North America, after 4 years, 4 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
24947
International designator
1997-051D
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
14 Sep 1997Baikonur Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
1 Feb 2002Recorded time 05:27 UTC
Time in orbit
4 years, 4 months1,601 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
86.5°N to 86.5°SFinal inclination 86.5°
Mass
662 kg
Operator
Built by
Motorola / LMMS/Sunnyvale
Bus
LM700
Programme
Iridium
Where it came down
Recorded positionRecorded position 62.0°N, 138.0°W at 05:27 UTC. Its final orbit, inclined at 86.5°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 86.5°N and 86.5°S.
Life in orbit
4 years, 4 monthsIRIDIUM 27’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 1 Feb 2002
1 entryFrom the same launch
1997-051
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2002-0053
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2002-0053
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.