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TIROS 9, 978

Orbit data source: Space-Track

TIROS 9, 978 is a payload satellite owned by GSFC (US) in SSO that was launched on Fri, 22 Jan 1965 UTC via a THOR DELTA C launch vehicle from the Air Force Eastern Test Range (AFETR). Payload-class satellites include a variety of spacecraft equipped with specific instruments for various scientific and technological missions. These include communications satellites like Starlink; space stations such as the ISS; scientific satellites like the Hubble; Earth observation satellites from companies like Planet Labs, Umbra, and HawkEye 360; GPS; miniature CubeSats for education and research; and military/defense satellites.

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https://www.satcat.com/sats-embedded/978?theme=dark&initialShowStats=false

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ISO8601 Format

Identifier

978, 1965-004A

Orbit

SSO

Country

Related business

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (US)

Manufacturer

RCA/East Windsor

Mission

Non-operational spacecraft

Bus & Motor

TIROS I, Unknown motor

Mass

138 kg wet, 138 kg dry

Launch date (UTC)

1965-01-22 (61 years ago)

Launch vehicle

THOR DELTA C

Launch site

Air Force Eastern Test Range (AFETR)

Object type

Payload

Rocket body

Debris

Shape & HBR

Unknown

Radar Cross Section

Medium (>0.1 m² and <1 m²)

Expand to show TLE details & history
Last TLE update: 7 hours ago

TLE from 7 hours ago

0 TIROS 9
1 00978U 65004A   26101.21691830 -.00000103  00000-0 -11458-3 0  9997
2 00978  96.3964 283.7176 1157741 179.7713 180.4133 12.11142830703506

Epoch: 2026-04-11T05:12Z

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2026-04-11T05:12:21.741Z)

Latitude

0.00007°

Longitude

6.1876°

Altitude

2,561.509 km

Speed

6.28 km/s

True Right ascension

18h 54m 52s

True Declination

0° 00' 00"

Sunlit

Object was in daylight at epoch

Visualization orbit readout

Latitude

Unknown

Longitude

Unknown

Altitude

Unknown

Speed

Unknown

Apparent Right ascension

Unknown

Apparent Declination

Unknown

Sunlit

N/A

Visualization observer readout

Local Sidereal Time

18:03:27

Azimuth

Unknown

Elevation

Unknown

Doppler factor

Unknown

Orbital elements

Apogee altitude

2,555.638 km

Perigee altitude

701.679 km

Semi-major axis

8,006.796 km

Eccentricity

0.11577

Inclination

96.3964°

RAAN

283.7176°

Arg. of periapsis

179.7713°

True anomaly

180.32975°

Mean anomaly

180.4133°

Eccentric anomaly

180.37042°

Mean motion

3.02939 °/min

Orbital period

118.84 mins

BSTAR

-0.00011458

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Other satellites on launch #4 in the year 1965 (1965-01-22 UTC)

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TIROS 9 Visibility forecast

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Span	Click to sort rows by Start time (UTC) header in descending order	Start Az.	Max El. time (UTC)	Max El. Az.	Max El.	End time (UTC)	End Az.
23 mins	2026-04-11 13:11:06.038Z	196.687° SSW	2026-04-11 13:24:06.038Z	271.065° WNW	35.886°	2026-04-11 13:34:06.038Z	336.602° NNW
7 mins	2026-04-11 23:48:06.038Z	41.202° NE	2026-04-11 23:52:06.038Z	92.778° ESE	21.615°	2026-04-11 23:55:06.038Z	134.707° SE
8 mins	2026-04-12 01:45:06.038Z	350.174° N	2026-04-12 01:50:06.038Z	284.108° WNW	27.832°	2026-04-12 01:53:06.038Z	238.361° WSW
5 mins	2026-04-12 09:17:06.038Z	61.575° ENE	2026-04-12 09:19:06.038Z	51.135° ENE	11.849°	2026-04-12 09:22:06.038Z	34.72° NE
21 mins	2026-04-12 11:03:06.038Z	137.156° SSE	2026-04-12 11:14:06.038Z	72.118° E	37.906°	2026-04-12 11:24:06.038Z	0.468° NNE

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Co-orbital & Co-planar RSOs

Thresholds — Semi-major Axis: ±100 km, RAAN: ±3°, Inclination: ±5°
TCA is derived from TLE conjunctions

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CAUTION: Conjunctions in this section are generated from low-fidelity TLE screenings

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Check out TIROS 9, 978 on other resources

View TIROS 9, 978 on NASA - NSSDCA Website

View TIROS 9, 978 on Heavens-Above

View TIROS 9, 978 on Keep Track

View TIROS 9, 978 on Celestrak

View TIROS 9, 978 on Gunter's Space Page

Satcat and Kayhan Space are not affiliated with NASA, Celestrak, Heavens-Above, Keep Track, or Gunter's Space Page.

TIROS 9, 978

Orbit data source: Space-Track

Expand to show TLE details & historyLast TLE update: 7 hours ago

TLE from 7 hours ago

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2026-04-11T05:12:21.741Z)

Visualization orbit readout

Visualization observer readout

Orbital elements

Other satellites on launch #4 in the year 1965 (1965-01-22 UTC)

TIROS 9 Visibility forecast

Co-orbital & Co-planar RSOs

Check out TIROS 9, 978 on other resources

Documentation

Expand to show TLE details & history
Last TLE update: 7 hours ago