Kosmos-397

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/4964

  • Military
  • COSMOS 397
  • NORAD 4964
  • 1971-015A
  • Medium Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Kosmos-397 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Somalia

Orbit ends over Gabon

Sunlit since

Enters the Earth’s shadow

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Kosmos-397 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 Kosmos-397, 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. Close approach

    On Friday, Oct 23 at 3:49 AM UTC, a fragment of Meteor 2-7 (NORAD 36878) was to pass within 441 m of Cosmos 397 (NORAD 4964). The chance was about 1 in 1,000.

Summary

Over Greenland LIVE

Where is Kosmos-397?

At 6:41:27 PM UTC Kosmos-397 was over Greenland (64.6° N, 51.8° W), 1,158 km up, moving at 7.38 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Kosmos-397?

A satellite in medium Earth orbit, in space since Feb 25, 1971.

Can I see Kosmos-397?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-397, and nothing here estimates one.

General

Operator
Space Defence Force, USSR Armed Forces
State
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Built by
Machine Building Special Design Bureau
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
about 1.4 t
Operating
Orbit class
Medium 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
6:41 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
6:41 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
64.6° N, 51.8° W
Altitude
1,158 km
Speed
7.38 km/s (26,572 km/h)
Course
east
Light
In sunlight until 6:55 PM UTC
Inclination
65.7°
Orbital period
112.9 minutes
Orbits per day
12.75
This orbit
567 to 2,154 km
In shadow
18 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,620 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 3:03 AM, 15 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 3:03 AM, 15 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-397, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
1 reported. No close approach to Kosmos-397 is reported for the next three 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

Kosmos-397 shares its launch, 1971-015, with 40 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEB *Debris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris
COSMOS 397 DEBDebris

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, 3:03 AM, 15 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 397",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1971-015A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T03:03:34.984800",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 12.74976084,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.10256872,
  "INCLINATION": 65.7202,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 168.65,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 178.5503,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 181.8915,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 4964,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 68660,
  "BSTAR": 0.000063961429,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 5.8e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}