- Military
- USA 15
- NORAD 16591
- 1986-014A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Irish Sea
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches USA-15 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 USA-15, 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
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over Sudan LIVE
Where is USA-15?
At 7:03:35 PM UTC USA-15 was over Sudan (14.1° N, 28.7° E), 511 km up, moving at 7.78 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is USA-15?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Feb 9, 1986.
Can I see USA-15?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for USA-15, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- National Reconnaissance Office
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- Martin Marietta
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 559 kg
- Operating
- No: its regular operations have ended
- Orbit class
- Low Earth 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
- 7:03 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 7:03 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 14.1° N, 28.7° E
- Altitude
- 511 km
- Speed
- 7.78 km/s (28,001 km/h)
- Course
- south-east
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 7:21 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 63.3°
- Orbital period
- 101.6 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.18
- This orbit
- 369 to 1,293 km
- In shadow
- 31 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,590 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 1:25 AM, 17 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 1:25 AM, 17 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA-15, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to USA-15 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.
Launched with
USA-15 shares its launch, 1986-014, with 4 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| ATLAS H R/B | Rocket body |
| USA 16 | Satellite |
| USA 17 | Satellite |
| USA 18 | 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 8, 2026, 1:25 AM, 17 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "USA 15",
"OBJECT_ID": "1986-014A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T01:25:12.759744",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.17992909,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.06411157,
"INCLINATION": 63.3045,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 191.9463,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 115.5618,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 251.3134,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 16591,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 12831,
"BSTAR": 0.00079631925,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00014469,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}