CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2017-0200
IRIDIUM 6
IRIDIUM 6 (NORAD 24794) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 23 December 2017, after 20 years, 7 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
24794
International designator
1997-020C
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
5 May 1997Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
23 Dec 2017UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
20 years, 7 months7,537 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
86.3°N to 86.3°SFinal inclination 86.3°
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 86.3°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 86.3°N and 86.3°S.
Life in orbit
20 years, 7 monthsIRIDIUM 6’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1997-020
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2017-0200
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2017-0200
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.