CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2006-0017
MOLNIYA 3-38
MOLNIYA 3-38 (NORAD 20646) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 26 February 2006, after 15 years, 8 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
20646
International designator
1990-052A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
13 Jun 1990Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
26 Feb 2006UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
15 years, 8 months5,737 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
62.5°N to 62.5°SFinal inclination 62.5°
Mass
1,750 kg
Operator
UNKS / 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 62.5°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 62.5°N and 62.5°S.
Life in orbit
15 years, 8 monthsMOLNIYA 3-38’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 26 Feb 2006
1 entryFrom the same launch
1990-052
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2006-0017
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2006-0017
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.