USA 271 beside Shi Jian 20
A satellite of US Air Force Space Command came up beside a satellite of China Satellite Communications Corp. Group (China Satcom), 9.54 km away at the nearest its sources state.
Reported: 2 public reports other than Orbinauts name these two.
From the public record
- From
- August 2020
- no source states the end
- Closest stated
- 9.54 km
- May 4, 2021
- Orbit
- GEO
- geostationary orbit, over 124.9° E
The one that moved
USA 271
US Air Force Space Command, United States
41745 · 2016-052B · launched Aug 19, 2016
The one it came up to
Shi Jian 20
China Satellite Communications Corp. Group (China Satcom), CN
44910 · 2019-097A · launched Dec 27, 2019
What the sources state
Every day and distance here is the sources’ own, to the precision they state.
- When
- from August 2020
- BesideAugust 2020
- August 2020: USA 271 approached China's SJ-20, shadowing the spacecraft. The Chinese spacecraft detected the US satellite and rapidly moved away.
- Closest statedMay 4, 2021
- May 4, 2021: SJ-20, 9.54 km, fly-around
The detector was not yet running: it reads low Earth orbit since April 2026 and the geostationary belt since October 2026.
Reported elsewhere
Who else said these two were together, earliest first.
| Said on | Who | What |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2023 | Institute | Wang Jiulong et al., 2023, Table 3, as tabulated by SWF 2026, Table 1-2 |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Institute | Wang Jiulong et al., 2023, Table 3, as tabulated by SWF 2026, Table 1-2 |