Transit VBN-1

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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/670

  • Navigation satellite
  • Military
  • TRANSIT 5B-1
  • NORAD 670
  • 1963-038B
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Transit VBN-1 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Zambia

Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Transit VBN-1 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 Transit VBN-1, 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 far too high and too faint for the naked eye. What you notice of it is a position fix, and the card above says whether it is above your horizon to give you one.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over Zambia LIVE

Where is Transit VBN-1?

At 5:27:40 PM UTC Transit VBN-1 was over Zambia (13.6° S, 22.5° E), 1,067 km up, moving at 7.33 km/s and in sunlight.

What is Transit VBN-1?

A navigation satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Sep 28, 1963.

Can I see Transit VBN-1?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Transit VBN-1, and nothing here estimates one; receivers on the ground use its signals instead, whenever it is above their horizon.

General

Operator
Bureau of Naval Weapons, US Navy
State
United States of America
Built by
JHU-Applied Physics Lab
What it is
Navigation satellite
Military
Yes: a defence organisation flies it
Launched
Mass
69 kg
Operating
Orbit class
Low Earth orbit

From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, 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
5:27 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
5:27 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
13.6° S, 22.5° E
Altitude
1,067 km
Speed
7.33 km/s (26,399 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In sunlight
Inclination
90°
Orbital period
107.1 minutes
Orbits per day
13.45
This orbit
1,058 to 1,119 km
In shadow
None of this orbit
In view from
Within 2,500 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 1:27 AM, 16 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 1:27 AM, 16 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Transit VBN-1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Transit VBN-1 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

Transit VBN-1 shares its launch, 1963-038, with 7 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
THOR ABLESTAR R/BRocket body
RADIATION SAT (5E 1)Satellite
THOR ABLESTAR DEBDebris
THOR ABLESTAR DEBDebris
TRANSIT 5B-1 DEBDebris
TRANSIT 5B-1 DEBDebris
THOR ABLESTAR 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, 1:27 AM, 16 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "TRANSIT 5B-1",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1963-038B",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T01:27:19.116288",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 13.44695312,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.00408711,
  "INCLINATION": 89.9574,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 332.3762,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 345.1032,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 14.8908,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 670,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 9352,
  "BSTAR": 0.00014678981,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 9.5e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}