# What is the oldest man-made object still in Earth orbit?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-man-made-object-still-in-earth-orbit/97379>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 7, 2001, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-man-made-object-still-in-earth-orbit/97379 "2001-12-07T04:37:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-man-made-object-still-in-earth-orbit/97379/1 "2001-12-07T04:37:50Z")

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Is there still anything from the early days of the space-race still in orbit? Or would all of the “early” satellites long since have plummeted back to Earth?

Bonus points for the oldest, still functioning satellite.

Thanks

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**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-man-made-object-still-in-earth-orbit/97379/2 "2001-12-07T04:54:09Z")

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How about [Vanguard I](http://code8200.nrl.navy.mil/vanguard.html)?

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**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-man-made-object-still-in-earth-orbit/97379/3 "2001-12-07T05:05:11Z")

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Looks like the oldest functional man-made object in space is [Pioneer 6](http://www.space.com/news/spaceagencies/pioneer_6_contact_001209.html). It’s not in Earth orbit, however.