Communications
LES-5
Historic UHF Communications Experiment · MIT Lincoln Laboratory / US Air Force
Right now
LiveIt moves every second. See exactly where it is — worked out from its orbit, on your own device — on the live 3D globe.
- Over
- —
- Altitude
- —
- Speed
- —
LES-5, launched in 1967 by MIT Lincoln Laboratory to test UHF satellite communications for the US military — among the earliest satellites proving that geostationary UHF relay could work for tactical voice communications. Its near-equatorial orbit (2.72° inclination) keeps it drifting slowly around the geostationary belt to this day, a piece of 1960s Cold War communications research still technically in orbit.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Medium Earth Orbita high vantage point, ideal for navigation
- Altitude
- 20,626–20,893 mi (33,195–33,624 km)
- Inclination
- 3.0°
- One orbit
- 21.9 hours1.1 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 02866
- Int’l designator
- 1967-066E
- Launched
- 1967
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 7 Nov 2026.
More communications
- LILACSAT-2Chinese University CubeSat (Amateur Radio + Imaging)
- LUSAT (LO-19)Amateur Radio Satellite
- LYNK TOWER 3Commercial Direct-to-Cell Satellite
- LYNK TOWER 4Commercial Direct-to-Cell Satellite
- LYNK TOWER 5Commercial Direct-to-Cell Satellite
- LYNK TOWER 6Commercial Direct-to-Cell Satellite