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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: 8 hours ago

TLE from 8 hours ago

0 TIROS 9
1 00978U 65004A   26097.49911197  .00000226  00000-0  30190-3 0  9990
2 00978  96.3960 281.8093 1157556 187.8114 170.3440 12.11142210703059

Epoch: 2026-04-07T11:58Z

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2026-04-07T11:58:43.274Z)

Latitude

0.00001°

Longitude

-93.64596°

Altitude

2,550.805 km

Speed

6.288 km/s

True Right ascension

18h 47m 14s

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

02:09:40

Azimuth

Unknown

Elevation

Unknown

Doppler factor

Unknown

Orbital elements

Apogee altitude

2,555.493 km

Perigee altitude

701.83 km

Semi-major axis

8,006.799 km

Eccentricity

0.11576

Inclination

96.396°

RAAN

281.8093°

Arg. of periapsis

187.8114°

True anomaly

172.28968°

Mean anomaly

170.344°

Eccentric anomaly

171.34236°

Mean motion

3.02939 °/min

Orbital period

118.84 mins

BSTAR

0.0003019

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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.
11 mins	2026-04-08 00:35:43.184Z	16.413° NNE	2026-04-08 00:42:43.184Z	109.882° ESE	40.369°	2026-04-08 00:46:43.184Z	173.359° S
5 mins	2026-04-08 02:36:43.184Z	327.414° NNW	2026-04-08 02:38:43.184Z	306.848° NW	16.397°	2026-04-08 02:41:43.184Z	272.435° WNW
15 mins	2026-04-08 09:59:43.184Z	96.769° ESE	2026-04-08 10:06:43.184Z	61.561° ENE	21.432°	2026-04-08 10:14:43.184Z	15.152° NNE
23 mins	2026-04-08 11:50:43.184Z	157.118° SSE	2026-04-08 12:02:43.184Z	89.981° E	44.248°	2026-04-08 12:13:43.184Z	353.039° N
20 mins	2026-04-08 13:50:43.184Z	216.384° SW	2026-04-08 14:00:43.184Z	270.352° WNW	28.795°	2026-04-08 14:10:43.184Z	329.859° NNW

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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: 8 hours ago

TLE from 8 hours ago

TLE epoch observation values (Epoch: 2026-04-07T11:58:43.274Z)

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: 8 hours ago