CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2018-0197
IRIDIUM 20
IRIDIUM 20 (NORAD 25577) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 22 October 2018 over the South Pacific Ocean, after 19 years, 10 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
25577
International designator
1998-074A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
19 Dec 1998Taiyuan
Re-entered (UTC)
22 Oct 2018Recorded time 01:10 UTC
Time in orbit
19 years, 10 months7,247 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
86.6°N to 86.6°SFinal inclination 86.6°
Mass
667 kg
Operator
Built by
Motorola
Bus
LM700
Programme
Iridium
Where it came down
Recorded positionRecorded position 19.0°S, 178.0°E at 01:10 UTC. Its final orbit, inclined at 86.6°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 86.6°N and 86.6°S.
Life in orbit
19 years, 10 monthsIRIDIUM 20’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 22 Oct 2018
1 entryFrom the same launch
1998-074
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2018-0197
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2018-0197
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.