Geostationary
TDRS 3
Data Relay · NASA
Right now
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The oldest NASA satellite still in use and one of the longest-operating spacecraft ever built. TDRS-3 is part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System — the space-based internet backbone that connects everything in low Earth orbit to the ground. Without TDRS, astronauts on the ISS would only be in contact with NASA 15% of the time as the station passed over ground stations. TDRS gives them nearly continuous connectivity, 24 hours a day.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Geostationaryappears to hang motionless over one spot on the equator
- Altitude
- 22,141–22,342 mi (35,633–35,956 km)
- Inclination
- 12.5°
- One orbit
- 23.9 hoursabout one orbit a day
- NORAD ID
- 19548
- Int’l designator
- 1988-091B
- Launched
- 1988
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.