Telstar 1

LIVE

Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/telstar-1

  • Pioneer
  • NORAD 340
  • 1962-029A
  • Medium Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Telstar 1 is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over the Pacific Ocean

Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Telstar 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.

Even at its closest, Telstar 1 is too faint to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth, so no city page carries pass times for it.

Seeing it

There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint for the naked eye. It is still up there all the same, going round as it has since it was launched.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on Delta from Cape Canaveral. Source

  2. End of mission

    Its mission ended.

Summary

Over the Indian Ocean LIVE

Where is Telstar 1?

At 8:06:55 PM UTC Telstar 1 was over the Indian Ocean (31.6° S, 64.3° E), 3,158 km up, moving at 6.51 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is Telstar 1?

One of the pioneers of spaceflight in medium Earth orbit, in space since Jul 10, 1962; its mission ended on Feb 21, 1963.

Can I see Telstar 1?

No, not with the naked eye: even at its closest, Telstar 1 is too faint to see from anywhere on Earth; what it is now is a relic of the first years in orbit.

General

Launched
Ended
Remembered for
Being the first active communications satellite, which carried the first live television across the Atlantic in July 1962
Operator
AT&T, whose Bell Telephone Laboratories built it; NASA launched it
Size
a many-sided ball 0.88 m across
Mass
77 kg
Typical altitude
945 to 5,640 km
Speed
about 5.01 to 8.22 km/s (18,000 to 29,600 km/h)

Latest orbital data

Position received
8:06 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
8:06 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
31.6° S, 64.3° E
Altitude
3,158 km
Speed
6.51 km/s (23,450 km/h)
Course
south-east
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 8:14 PM UTC
Inclination
44.8°
Orbital period
157.7 minutes
Orbits per day
9.13
This orbit
946 to 5,642 km
In shadow
36 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 4,320 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Sep 15, 2026, 12:54 AM, 3 days old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Sep 15, 2026, 12:54 AM, 3 days old.

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

In orbit

Close approaches
Close approaches to Telstar 1 are not available right now. Try again in a few minutes.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Sep 15, 2026, 12:54 AM, 3 days old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "TELSTAR 1",
  "OBJECT_ID": "1962-029A",
  "EPOCH": "2026-09-15T00:54:30.545856",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 9.12894312,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.24276702,
  "INCLINATION": 44.8027,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 152.839,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 320.8354,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 38.0273,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 340,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 14066,
  "BSTAR": -0.00035718176,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -7.4e-7,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}