Vela IV-A

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/2765

  • Military
  • OPS 6638 (VELA 7)
  • NORAD 2765
  • 1967-040A
  • Highly elliptical orbit

Current orbit

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

Orbit began over the Atlantic Ocean

Orbit ends over the Great Australian Bight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Vela IV-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 IV-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 People's Republic of China LIVE

Where is Vela IV-A?

At 6:51:57 PM UTC Vela IV-A was over the People's Republic of China (40.8° N, 100.5° E), 130,898 km up, moving at 1.55 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Vela IV-A?

A satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since Apr 28, 1967.

Can I see Vela IV-A?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Vela IV-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
221 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
6:51 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:51 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
40.8° N, 100.5° E
Altitude
130,898 km
Speed
1.55 km/s (5,594 km/h)
Course
west
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
42.3°
Orbital period
6,676.6 minutes
Orbits per day
0.22
This orbit
52,445 to 169,705 km
In view from
Within 8,600 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Oct 24, 2026, 7:08 PM, 14 days old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Oct 24, 2026, 7:08 PM, 14 days old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Vela IV-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 IV-A shares its launch, 1967-040, with 2 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
OPS 6679 (VELA 8)Satellite
TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/BRocket body

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 Oct 24, 2026, 7:08 PM, 14 days old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "OPS 6638 (VELA 7)",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1967-040A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-10-24T19:08:17.565792",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.21567933,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.49917923,
  "INCLINATION": 42.325,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 0.5802,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 300.339,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 0.4461,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 2765,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 1374,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.0000047,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}