diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ec6ee7082..61bcaaad5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
 
+## Unreleased
+
+### Added
+* `getHealth` now returns `latestLedgerCloseTime`, the unix timestamp (seconds) at which the latest ledger closed. This lets clients assess ledger freshness from the lightweight health endpoint without fetching full ledger metadata via `getLatestLedger` ([#797](https://github.com/stellar/stellar-rpc/pull/797)).
+
+
 ## [v27.0.0](https://github.com/stellar/stellar-rpc/compare/v26.0.1...v27.0.0)
 
 ### Breaking Changes
diff --git a/cmd/stellar-rpc/internal/integrationtest/health_test.go b/cmd/stellar-rpc/internal/integrationtest/health_test.go
index 21387865f..5f2fe534d 100644
--- a/cmd/stellar-rpc/internal/integrationtest/health_test.go
+++ b/cmd/stellar-rpc/internal/integrationtest/health_test.go
@@ -19,4 +19,5 @@ func TestHealth(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Greater(t, result.OldestLedger, uint32(0))
 	assert.Greater(t, result.LatestLedger, uint32(0))
 	assert.GreaterOrEqual(t, result.LatestLedger, result.OldestLedger)
+	assert.Greater(t, result.LatestLedgerCloseTime, int64(0))
 }
diff --git a/cmd/stellar-rpc/internal/methods/get_health.go b/cmd/stellar-rpc/internal/methods/get_health.go
index 65f308bed..411ea27ee 100644
--- a/cmd/stellar-rpc/internal/methods/get_health.go
+++ b/cmd/stellar-rpc/internal/methods/get_health.go
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ func NewHealthCheck(
 		result := protocol.GetHealthResponse{
 			Status:                "healthy",
 			LatestLedger:          ledgerRange.LastLedger.Sequence,
+			LatestLedgerCloseTime: ledgerRange.LastLedger.CloseTime,
 			OldestLedger:          ledgerRange.FirstLedger.Sequence,
 			LedgerRetentionWindow: retentionWindow,
 		}
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index b2f97db58..de25c572a 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -148,3 +148,5 @@ require (
 	gopkg.in/tylerb/graceful.v1 v1.2.15 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1 // indirect
 )
+
+replace github.com/stellar/go-stellar-sdk => github.com/felixl256/go-stellar-sdk v0.6.1-0.20260619085442-8c1d885126d2
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 0315adfb4..c1d57cfef 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -173,6 +173,8 @@ github.com/fatih/structs v1.0.0 h1:BrX964Rv5uQ3wwS+KRUAJCBBw5PQmgJfJ6v4yly5QwU=
 github.com/fatih/structs v1.0.0/go.mod h1:9NiDSp5zOcgEDl+j00MP/WkGVPOlPRLejGD8Ga6PJ7M=
 github.com/felixge/httpsnoop v1.0.4 h1:NFTV2Zj1bL4mc9sqWACXbQFVBBg2W3GPvqp8/ESS2Wg=
 github.com/felixge/httpsnoop v1.0.4/go.mod h1:m8KPJKqk1gH5J9DgRY2ASl2lWCfGKXixSwevea8zH2U=
+github.com/felixl256/go-stellar-sdk v0.6.1-0.20260619085442-8c1d885126d2 h1:zrflbi/ZqoowRGk428iNdWvLa5stAM9+uV71FVxbcOU=
+github.com/felixl256/go-stellar-sdk v0.6.1-0.20260619085442-8c1d885126d2/go.mod h1:IkcqcrE9UQi7n/1y+MxKB+7qzdjG1T2kGOD7Ss8dqjw=
 github.com/fortytw2/leaktest v1.3.0 h1:u8491cBMTQ8ft8aeV+adlcytMZylmA5nnwwkRZjI8vw=
 github.com/fortytw2/leaktest v1.3.0/go.mod h1:jDsjWgpAGjm2CA7WthBh/CdZYEPF31XHquHwclZch5g=
 github.com/frankban/quicktest v1.14.4 h1:g2rn0vABPOOXmZUj+vbmUp0lPoXEMuhTpIluN0XL9UY=
@@ -429,8 +431,6 @@ github.com/spf13/viper v1.17.0 h1:I5txKw7MJasPL/BrfkbA0Jyo/oELqVmux4pR/UxOMfI=
 github.com/spf13/viper v1.17.0/go.mod h1:BmMMMLQXSbcHK6KAOiFLz0l5JHrU89OdIRHvsk0+yVI=
 github.com/spiffe/go-spiffe/v2 v2.6.0 h1:l+DolpxNWYgruGQVV0xsfeya3CsC7m8iBzDnMpsbLuo=
 github.com/spiffe/go-spiffe/v2 v2.6.0/go.mod h1:gm2SeUoMZEtpnzPNs2Csc0D/gX33k1xIx7lEzqblHEs=
-github.com/stellar/go-stellar-sdk v0.6.0 h1:NM2oqZJQup0QxnJMq6C8s4iIIhU6rHFX0rlsF3wh/Ho=
-github.com/stellar/go-stellar-sdk v0.6.0/go.mod h1:IkcqcrE9UQi7n/1y+MxKB+7qzdjG1T2kGOD7Ss8dqjw=
 github.com/stellar/go-xdr v0.0.0-20260529210834-0bf8f4956364 h1:gOKrfuWdZ92LFlv0TAwgZ7OsWKeBsOMDlGLyFgduI1w=
 github.com/stellar/go-xdr v0.0.0-20260529210834-0bf8f4956364/go.mod h1:If+U9Z1W5xU97VrOgJandQT+2dN7/iOpkCrxBJEyF80=
 github.com/stretchr/objx v0.1.0/go.mod h1:HFkY916IF+rwdDfMAkV7OtwuqBVzrE8GR6GFx+wExME=