USA 253

LIVE
See on the map

Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/40099

  • Military
  • NORAD 40099
  • 2014-043A
  • Inclined geosynchronous

Current orbit

Where USA 253 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over France

Orbit ends over Venezuela

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches USA 253 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 253, 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

  2. Rendezvous

    USA 253 came up beside Tian Lian 2-01, from Feb 26, 2020, as public sources state. Its sources

Summary

Over Brazil LIVE

Where is USA 253?

At 6:20:43 PM UTC USA 253 was over Brazil (1.5° S, 55° W), 36,786 km up, moving at 3.04 km/s and in sunlight.

What is USA 253?

A satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Jul 28, 2014.

Can I see USA 253?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for USA 253, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
US Air Force Space Command
State
United States of America
Built by
Orbital Sciences Corp.
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
500 kg
Operating
No: its regular operations have ended
Orbit class
Inclined geosynchronous

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
6:20 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:20 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
1.5° S, 55° W
Altitude
36,786 km
Speed
3.04 km/s (10,940 km/h)
Course
south
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
5.9°
Orbital period
1,488 minutes
Orbits per day
0.97
This orbit
36,779 to 36,816 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 7,970 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 7, 2026, 5:42 AM, 1 day old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 5:42 AM, 1 day old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for USA 253, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to USA 253 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

USA 253 shares its launch, 2014-043, with 3 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
USA 254Satellite
USA 255Satellite
DELTA 4 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 Nov 7, 2026, 5:42 AM, 1 day old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "USA 253",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2014-043A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-07T05:42:42.056064",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 0.96773992,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.0004211,
  "INCLINATION": 5.8756,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 73.4705,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 137.6052,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 245.3004,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 40099,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 2875,
  "BSTAR": 0,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -0.00000122,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}