CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2018-0176
IRIDIUM 50
IRIDIUM 50 (NORAD 25172) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 23 September 2018, after 20 years, 7 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
25172
International designator
1998-010D
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
18 Feb 1998Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
23 Sep 2018UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
20 years, 7 months7,522 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
86.7°N to 86.7°SFinal inclination 86.7°
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 86.7°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 86.7°N and 86.7°S.
Life in orbit
20 years, 7 monthsIRIDIUM 50’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 23 Sep 2018
2 entriesFrom the same launch
1998-010
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2018-0176
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2018-0176
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.