El Paso (US)

The local space context of El Paso as this registry holds it — the catalogued human footprint on the ground around it, the orbits that can pass overhead, and the geostationary belt seen from here.

position31.759° N, 106.487° WGeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0
population678,815 inhabitantsGeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0

On the ground within 1000 km

Launch sites — 22 within 1000 km

sitedistance · bearingpositionsource layer
Hueco Range, Fort Bliss, Texas16 km WNW (287°)31.800° N, 106.650° Wgcat-sites
White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico71 km N (357°)32.400° N, 106.530° Wgcat-sites
Alamagordo Army Air Field127 km NNE (16°)32.850° N, 106.103° Wgcat-sites
AFMDC, Air Force Missile Development Center, Holloman Air Force Base127 km NNE (16°)32.850° N, 106.103° Wgcat-sites
Holloman Air Development Center, New Mexico127 km NNE (16°)32.850° N, 106.103° Wgcat-sites
Spaceport America, New Mexico (9MN9)144 km NNW (342°)32.990° N, 106.970° Wgcat-sites
SouthWest Regional Spaceport (Spaceport America) New Mexico144 km NNW (342°)32.990° N, 106.970° Wgcat-sites
Blue Origin, West Texas Launch Site, Corn Ranch168 km ESE (102°)31.423° N, 104.757° Wgcat-sites
Walker AFB, Roswell, New Mexico251 km NE (46°)33.302° N, 104.531° Wgcat-sites
Datil, New Mexico288 km NNW (336°)34.122° N, 107.741° Wgcat-sites
Fort Wingate Depot Activity, New Mexico455 km NNW (335°)35.450° N, 108.600° Wgcat-sites
Dyess AFB, Texas629 km E (82°)32.421° N, 99.855° Wgcat-sites
Black Mesa, Blanding, Utah675 km NNW (338°)37.370° N, 109.290° Wgcat-sites
Altus AFB744 km ENE (62°)34.663° N, 99.274° Wgcat-sites
Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona746 km WNW (282°)32.870° N, 114.320° Wgcat-sites
… and 7 more within 1000 km

Ground stations and transmitting sites — 1 within 1000 km

sitedistance · bearingpositionsource layer
Trinity Site214 km N (0°)33.680° N, 106.470° Wnuclear-tests

Nuclear detonations — 12 within 1000 km

sitedistance · bearingpositionsource layer
Trinity213 km N (0°)33.677° N, 106.476° Wnukes
GNOME228 km ENE (76°)32.250° N, 104.140° Wnuclear-tests
GASBUGGY550 km N (354°)36.670° N, 107.170° Wnuclear-tests
EGMONT694 km NW (314°)36.000° N, 112.000° Wnuclear-tests
RULISON870 km N (352°)39.500° N, 107.880° Wnuclear-tests
RIO BLANCO 1-3909 km N (350°)39.793° N, 108.366° Wnuclear-tests
STACCATO923 km NW (313°)37.180° N, 114.120° Wnuclear-tests
PROJECT 57:1974 km NW (309°)37.000° N, 115.000° Wnuclear-tests
DOUBLE TRACKS974 km NW (309°)37.000° N, 115.000° Wnuclear-tests
CLEAN SLATE:I974 km NW (309°)37.000° N, 115.000° Wnuclear-tests
CLEAN SLATE:II974 km NW (309°)37.000° N, 115.000° Wnuclear-tests
CLEAN SLATE:III974 km NW (309°)37.000° N, 115.000° Wnuclear-tests

Distances are great-circle on a sphere of mean radius 6,371 km; bearings are initial true bearings from the city. Each position is the source catalogue's own, read back from the registry.

What can pass overhead

Of the 23,251 artificial objects the registry places in Earth orbit on 2026-10-18, 20,239 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 31.759° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,012 never reach this latitude.

space stationinclinationcan pass overhead
Bai Xiang85.0°yes
International Space Station (+3 docked records)51.6°yes
Kosmos-38255.9°yes
Tianhe41.5°yes

Computed: an orbit's equatorial inclination bounds the latitudes its track reaches (inclination i, or 180° − i when retrograde), from the orbital elements the registry holds. «Can pass overhead» is geometry, not a schedule — when, and whether it is lit and visible, depends on the hour.

The geostationary belt from here

The geostationary belt arcs across the southern sky and stands 53.0° above the horizon due south — the elevation to aim at for a satellite at this city's own longitude. Computed: spherical Earth (equatorial radius 6,378.137 km), circular orbit of one sidereal day (42,164 km); good to a few tenths of a degree.

What this page does not know