CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2003-0049
IRIDIUM 09
IRIDIUM 09 (NORAD 24838) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 11 March 2003, after 5 years, 8 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
24838
International designator
1997-030C
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
18 Jun 1997Baikonur Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
11 Mar 2003UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
5 years, 8 months2,092 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
86.4°N to 86.4°SFinal inclination 86.4°
Mass
662 kg
Operator
Built by
Motorola / LMMS/Sunnyvale
Bus
LM700
Programme
Iridium
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 86.4°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 86.4°N and 86.4°S.
Life in orbit
5 years, 8 monthsIRIDIUM 09’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 11 Mar 2003
1 entryFrom the same launch
1997-030
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2003-0049
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2003-0049
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.