CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2018-0248
IRIDIUM 35
IRIDIUM 35 (NORAD 24966) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 26 December 2018 over the Southern Ocean, after 21 years, 2 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
24966
International designator
1997-056B
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
United States
Launched
27 Sep 1997Vandenberg
Re-entered (UTC)
26 Dec 2018Recorded time 12:17 UTC
Time in orbit
21 years, 2 months7,760 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
Recorded positionRecorded position 83.0°S, 18.0°E at 12:17 UTC. Its final orbit, inclined at 86.4°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 86.4°N and 86.4°S.
Life in orbit
21 years, 2 monthsIRIDIUM 35’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
From the same launch
1997-056
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2018-0248
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2018-0248
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.