/nAnticipated and Recent Re-entries - eventually air drag, gravity or retro-fire mean that a spacecraft or satellite is no longer able to stay in orbit. It re-enters the atmosphere to be destroyed or make a safe landing.
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Launches and Orbital Operations
Nottinghamshire, UK
2026 Oct 21
Wednesday, Day 294

Curated by:
Robert Christy


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Timelines:

Tables - Launches and Orbits

Orbit Decays and Re-entries


History:

The Kettering Group

Feeling the Heat!

Air drag and, sometimes, gravitational effects cause satellites to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. Occasionally, re-entry is caused by a deliberate decision of a satellite owner to fire a retro-rocket and bring some part of a space vehicle back to Earth.

The majority of re-entries result in the vehicle being destroyed by frictional heating as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere. Some fragments may get through and hit the Earth's surface - hence the system of TIP messages to warn of the event. Only a space vehicle fitted with a heat shield will get through the atmosphere for an actual landing.


Anticipated Re-entries

Information comes from Space-Track. Most entries are from the '60-day' decay prediction messages. If the re-entry date has already passed then you might find the object is also in the Recent Re-entries list further down the page.

Below are re-entries expected over the next days. The list includes only natural re-entries and it excludes planned events such as a Soyuz, Shenzhou or Dragon spacecraft returning from space station duties.

Table created: 2026 Oct 20, 06:03 UTC

Cat No Designation Name
(SpaceTrack)		 Predicted
Date UTC		 Prediction
Issued UTC
58435    2023-182ACosmos 25722026 Oct 192026 Oct 17
48376    2021-038ZStarlink 26102026 Oct 192026 Oct 19
46066    2020-055ARStarlink 15252026 Oct 202026 Oct 14
58412    2023-180LStarlink 309242026 Oct 202026 Oct 19
45377    2020-019TStarlink 13052026 Oct 202026 Oct 20
47728    2021-017GStarlink 21312026 Oct 202026 Oct 20
53891    2022-119FStarlink 50412026 Oct 202026 Oct 19
38487    1993-036BTXCosmos 2251 debris2026 Oct 212026 Oct 14
69676    2026-132GOBJECT G2026 Oct 212026 Oct 7
47627    2021-012HStarlink 19722026 Oct 212026 Oct 20
45395    2020-019AMStarlink 12972026 Oct 212026 Oct 20
33939    1993-036EUCosmos 2251 debris2026 Oct 222026 Oct 14
57291    2023-096BStarlink 302392026 Oct 222026 Oct 7
67102    2025-299AStarlink 362552026 Oct 222026 Oct 14
100684    2026-207CElectron second stage2026 Oct 232026 Oct 14
46174    2020-057BKStarlink 16412026 Oct 232026 Oct 19
60520    2024-149BEIPERDRONE.02026 Oct 242026 Oct 14
47625    2021-012FStarlink 17042026 Oct 252026 Oct 14
54346    2022-151CRCZ 6A debris2026 Oct 252026 Oct 14
57416    2023-102NStarlink 302242026 Oct 252026 Oct 7
48562    2021-041KStarlink 21872026 Oct 262026 Oct 14
48737    2002-032BWNOAA 17 debris2026 Oct 262026 Oct 14
52963    2011-037PSFregat debris2026 Oct 262026 Oct 14
53892    2022-119GStarlink 50462026 Oct 262026 Oct 14
7003    1973-107AAureole 22026 Oct 272026 Oct 14
44741    2019-074AEStarlink2026 Oct 272026 Oct 14
48582    2021-041AFStarlink 22362026 Oct 272026 Oct 14
51737    2022-016ZStarlink 35092026 Oct 272026 Oct 14
53740    2022-107ASStarlink 46072026 Oct 272026 Oct 14
57302    2023-096NStarlink 302332026 Oct 272026 Oct 14
37518    1993-036BMXCosmos 2251 debris2026 Oct 282026 Oct 14
53499    2022-099ALStarlink 44542026 Oct 282026 Oct 7
57300    2023-096LStarlink 302362026 Oct 282026 Oct 7


Recent TIP Messages

TIP messages are not a matter of routine and are not issued for all re-entries. They are more up to date and more precise than the Recent Re-entries list.

If you are unfamiliar with how to interpret TIP messages, you are recommended to read the Note at the bottom of the page.

Sometimes there may be a delay between the final TIP message and the re-entry being formally logged in Space-Track's Catalogue so a Message here may relate to a re-entry that has not yet entered the 'Recent' list.

Here is a list of TIP messages where the Window is less than about one quarter orbit. Even then it represents as much as ±9000 km of ground track. Where the window is ±1 minute, the re-entry signature was probably registered by a detector carried on a specialised 'space awareness' satellite.

Table created: 2026 Oct 20, 06:03 UTC

Cat No &
Designation		 Name Terminal
Date & Time UTC		 Lat, Long & Heading
(10 km altitude)		 TIP Message
Issued UTC
58435
2023-182A		Cosmos 25722026 Oct 19 05:41
± 1 minute(s)		16°.9 south, 100°.3 east
southbound, ± 0.01 orbits		2026 Oct 19 08:21
57412
2023-102J		Starlink 301822026 Oct 14 06:04
± 1 minute(s)		24°.7 south, 73°.4 west
southbound, ± 0.01 orbits		2026 Oct 14 11:22
54776
2022-175U		Starlink 54702026 Oct 16 11:28
± 1 minute(s)		51°.7 south, 171°.1 west
southbound, ± 0.01 orbits		2026 Oct 16 12:29
51659
2022-013D		PSLV upper stage2026 Oct 15 12:59
± 1 minute(s)		20°.2 north, 37°.3 west
southbound, ± 0.01 orbits		2026 Oct 15 17:21
48376
2021-038Z		Starlink 26102026 Oct 19 16:49
± 1 minute(s)		11°.8 south, 118°.4 west
southbound, ± 0.01 orbits		2026 Oct 19 22:12
46709
2020-073AR		Starlink 18102026 Oct 13 20:59
± 1 minute(s)		32°.7 south, 132°.8 west
southbound, ± 0.01 orbits		2026 Oct 13 22:06
41892
2016-078J		Pegasus third stage2026 Oct 10 19:25
± 1 minute(s)		34°.3 south, 61°.2 east
southbound, ± 0.01 orbits		2026 Oct 14 13:23


Recent Re-entries

This table is extracted from Space-Track's Catalogue and lists re-entries that occurred in the last 30 days, whether natural or deliberate. Sometimes the date shown indicates when the object was noticed as 'missing from orbit', re-entry may actually have occurred at least one day earlier.

Table created: 2026 Oct 20, 06:03 UTC

Cat No Designation Name Date UTC
 
58435   2023-182ACosmos 25722026 Oct 19
101070   2026-234LZhuque 2 second stage2026 Oct 18
54776   2022-175UStarlink 54702026 Oct 16
51659   2022-013DPSLV upper stage2026 Oct 15
57206   2023-091ASname not known2026 Oct 15
57412   2023-102JStarlink 301822026 Oct 14
64230   2025-118AElectron third stage2026 Oct 13
46709   2020-073ARStarlink 18102026 Oct 13
35443   1993-036AKMCosmos 2251 debris2026 Oct 13
61756   2024-199XSITRO AIS 422026 Oct 13
61760   2024-199ABSITRO AIS 412026 Oct 13


Note on TIP Messages

Close to re-entry time for many objects, SpaceTrack issues TIP Messages with a more-precise warning of the event. The meaning of the TIP acronym is lost in the mists of time so Space-Track has re-invented it as 'Tracking and Impact Prediction'.

The message includes an estimated time, latitude and longitude for when the object will go through a height of 10 kilometres (definition - Space-Track) above the ground. It is a rough indication of the start point of the ellipse within which debris might fall given that horizontal velocity will have reduced to near-zero because of air resistance. In some cases, the location is imprecise in practical terms because the window included in the message covers a long track across the Earth's surface.

TIP Messages are often a source of confusion as people take the predicted time literally and ignore the error margin (Window). In 2011 RIA-Novosti used a TIP Message, issued several weeks in advance, to pinpoint a village in North Africa, doggedly insisting that it would feel the full force of of Phobos-Grunt’s re-entry. SpaceTrack's Window was ±2 days, representing over one million kilometres of ground track and a large proportion of the Earth's surface between 52° North and 52° South.
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