- Military
- NORAD 23908
- 1996-029C
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the United States of America
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches USA 121 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 121, 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 the Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is USA 121?
At 7:09:36 PM UTC USA 121 was over the Indian Ocean (52.9° S, 156.2° E), 1,325 km up, moving at 7.09 km/s and in sunlight.
What is USA 121?
A satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since May 12, 1996.
Can I see USA 121?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for USA 121, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- National Reconnaissance Office
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- Naval Research Lab
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 400 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
- 7:09 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 7:09 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 52.9° S, 156.2° E
- Altitude
- 1,325 km
- Speed
- 7.09 km/s (25,513 km/h)
- Course
- north-east
- Light
- In sunlight until 8:11 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 63.3°
- Orbital period
- 106.9 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.47
- This orbit
- 443 to 1,724 km
- In shadow
- 12 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,820 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 11:51 PM, 19 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:51 PM, 19 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA 121, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to USA 121 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 121 shares its launch, 1996-029, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
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 7, 2026, 11:51 PM, 19 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "USA 121",
"OBJECT_ID": "1996-029C",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:51:34.576416",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.46660436,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.08587479,
"INCLINATION": 63.3155,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 175.0341,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 51.7451,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 315.7733,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 23908,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 12273,
"BSTAR": 0.00034901582,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00002239,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}