Vela III-A

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/1458

  • Military
  • OPS 6577 (VELA 5)
  • NORAD 1458
  • 1965-058A
  • Highly elliptical orbit

Current orbit

Where Vela III-A is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Coral Sea

Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Vela III-A go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.

Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.

No brightness has been published for Vela III-A, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.

Seeing it

There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE

Where is Vela III-A?

At 6:52:02 PM UTC Vela III-A was over the Pacific Ocean (15.8° N, 166.6° W), 170,884 km up, moving at 1.06 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Vela III-A?

A satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since Jul 20, 1965.

Can I see Vela III-A?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Vela III-A, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
US Air Force Space Systems Division
State
United States of America
Built by
TRW Inc.
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
132 kg
Operating
Orbit class
Highly elliptical orbit

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.

Latest orbital data

Position received
6:52 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:52 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
15.8° N, 166.6° W
Altitude
170,884 km
Speed
1.06 km/s (3,798 km/h)
Course
west
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
30.6°
Orbital period
6,707 minutes
Orbits per day
0.21
This orbit
50,934 to 171,929 km
In view from
Within 8,670 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 11, 2026, 1:43 AM, 0 seconds old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 11, 2026, 1:43 AM, 0 seconds old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Vela III-A, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Vela III-A has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.

From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

Vela III-A shares its launch, 1965-058, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
OPS 6564 (VELA 6)Satellite

Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 11, 2026, 1:43 AM, 0 seconds old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "OPS 6577 (VELA 5)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1965-058A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-11T01:43:51.180096",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.21470135,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.5135173,
  "INCLINATION": 30.5926,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 12.7618,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 325.5146,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 1.6628,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 1458,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 1236,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000876,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}