Molniya 126

 1973-097A

---

Molniya-1 (F31, N26) was launched from Plesetsk into the C plane.

Molniya-1 F31
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1973 Nov 30	1308:59	Launch by 8K78M	PL
		BVGD sep
		GO sep
		T+4:46 Blok A sep
		T+4:56 KhO sep
		T+8:46 Blok-I MECO
	1317	T+8:50 Blok-I sep
		T+53:16 BOZ burn
	1402?	T+53:56 BOZ sep
		ML burn
		T+56:46 ML MECO
	1405?	T+56:54 ML sep
1973 Nov 30			735.84 592 x 40649 x 62.9
1973 Nov 30			740.0 619 x 40829 x 62.9 (RAE)
1973 Dec 2			740.03 618 x 40828 x 62.9
1973 Dec 12			737.52 432 x 40891 x 62.9
1973 Dec 23			737.57 447 x 40879 x 62.8
1974 Jan		Lower orbit
1974 Jan 15			717.75 478 x 39874 x 62.7
1974 Dec 21			717.81 807 x 39548 x 63.0
1977 Jan 30			717.72 513 x 39838 x 63.6
1977 Oct 20			717.69 480 x 39869 x 63.9
1981 Mar 14			717.83 1515 x 38842 x 64.2
1983 Oct 27			717.65 430 x 39917 x 63.9
1984 Dec 1			600.58 110 x 34292 x 63.4
1985 Mar 12			244.48 99 x 13047 x 63.4
1985 May 28			115.36 97 x 2846 x 63.3
1985 Jun 9		Reentered	89 x 660 x 63.3

Venera 6

  1969-002A

---

V-69 No. 331 (Venera-6) was launched on 1969 Jan 10. It transmitted for 51 min during the descent on May 17 and was destroyed at an altitude of 11 km. It reported a temperature of 400 C and a pressure of 60 bar. 

Venera-6
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1969 Jan 10	0544?	Launch by 8K78M	KB
	0548?	Blok-I burn
	0553?	Blok-I sep	88.51 201 x 207 x 51.66
	0705?	BOZ sep
	0706?	Blok-L burn
	0710?	Blok-L sep, solar orbit
1969 Mar 16		TCM 37m/s
1969 May 17	0330	SA sep, 25000 km from Venus (11.2 km/s)
	0605	Entry
	0608:15	AOS, parachutes out
	0658:04	End of transmissions, 11 km alt (51 min in)
	0715?	Impact

Soyuz 2

  1968-093A

---

Soyuz-2 was launched without a crew to serve as a docking target for Beregovoy's Soyuz-3. It was 7K-OK (11F615) No. 11, with a passive docking system.

Soyuz-2
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1968 Oct 25	0900:00	Launch by Soyuz	KB
		T+1:55 SAS sep
		T+1:58 Blok BVGD sep
		T+2:45 Fairing
		T+4:48 Blok A sep
		T+4:48 St 3 MES
	0908	T+8:50 St 3 MECO
		Blok-I sep	89.95 204 x 341 x 51.82
1968 Oct 26	0900?	Rendezvous by Soyuz-3
1968 Oct 27		Rendezvous by Soyuz-3
	0800		88.22 177 x 196 x 51.67
		Orbit adjust
	1940		99.63 184 x 230 x 51.66
1968 Oct 28	0015		88.41 181 x 211 x 51.67
	0642?	DO
	0645?	DO CO
	0655?	Modules sep
	0702?	Entry
	0720	Landing

Intelsat 302

  1968-116A

---

The Intelsat III F-2 satellite was the first of the series to reach orbit, and it replaced Early Bird and Intelsat II F-3 as the prime Atlantic region (AOR) satellite. Initially tested at 35W, it was moved in 1969 to 24W. The satellite had a temperature-related problem with the despin system, and had to be turned upside down every six months to keep the sun shining on the antennas and stop the system from locking up. When the problem first surfaced in June 1969, Early Bird was brought out of retirement and some traffic was rerouted around the world via the Indian and Pacific satellites. 

Intelsat III F-2
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1968 Dec 19	0032:00	Launch by Delta M	CK LC17A
		T+1:15 Castor II SRM sep
		T+3:42 MECO
		St 1 sep
	0035	T+3:44s SES 6:17
		T+4:00 Fairing
	0042	T+10:03 SECO 336 km
	0051	T+19m? St 2 sep
	0051:54	T+19:54 Star 37D burn 41s
	0052:39	T+20:39 TECO
	0053?	T+21m? Star 37D sep	642.9 261 x 36338 x 28.8
1968 Dec 19	0630?	Apo 1 at 69E
1968 Dec 19	1700?	Apo 2 at 91W
1968 Dec 20	0400?	Apo 3 at 104E
	1440?	Apo 4 at 56W
1968 Dec 20	1410?	SVM-2 burn	GEO 51W+3.25E/d
1968 Dec 21		Reverse E drift
1968 Dec 27	2319		1435.90 35773 x 35792 x 0.8 GEO 35.0W+0.04W
1969 Jan		In service AOR	GEO 24W
		Replaced I F-1 and II F-3
1969 Jun 3?			GEO 32.8W
1969 Jun 29		Temporary malfunction, replaced by Early Bird
1969 Dec 1	0000		1436.10 35771 x 35801 x 0.3 GEO 24.1W+0.0E
1970 Feb 9			1536.28 35774 x 35805 x 0.4 GEO 25.3W+0.05E
1970 Mar 9			1436.54 35781 x 35809 x 0.5 GEO 27.6W+0.12E
1970 Apr		Replaced by III F7
1970 Apr 20			GEO 30.7W+0.15W drift
1971 May 25			1436.79 35775 x 35824 x 1.5 GEO 49.2W+0.18E
1974 Feb 28			1436.3 35785 x 35795 x 4.0 (SSR)
1975 Dec 30			GEO 80W (Morgan)
		Orbit raised
1977 Jan 25			1475.14 35988 x 37106 x 6.1 GEO 116W+9.5E
1977 May		end of ops

August 30,1989

 https://planet4589.org/space/jsr/back/news.23.txt

Kosmos 1962

 1988-068A

---

Two-tone telemetry; Hi res satellite

Kosmos-1962
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1988 Aug 8	0925:00	Launch by Soyuz	KB
	0929	Blok-I burn
	0933	Blok-I sep
1988 Aug 8			89.32 211x270x70.0
1988 Aug 9			89.35 209x275x70.0
1988 Aug 16			89.67 231 x 285 x 70.0
1988 Aug 21			89.57 228x279x70.0
1988 Aug 22
	0620?	Deorbit
	0629?	PO sep
	0637?	Entry	-176 x 250
	0652?	Landed

Kosmos 186

  1967-105A

---

7K-OK No. 6 was launched in Oct 1967 without a crew on board. It was named Kosmos-186. The ship was maneuvered in orbit for three days, testing the redesigned systems. On Oct 30, 7K-OK No. 5 was launched as Kosmos-188, and the two craft successfully completed a docking. This was the first automatic docking and the first docking of any kind carried out by the USSR. Kosmos-186 and Kosmos-188 separated after three hours and the descent module of Kosmos-186 was recovered the following day. 

Kosmos-186
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1967 Oct 27	0929:59	Launch by 11A511	KB
	0934	Blok-I burn
	0939	Blok-I sep	88.33 175 x 209 x 51.66
	1600?	Rev 5 TCM
	1700		88.73 204 x 219 x 51.66
1967 Oct 28	0500		88.26 178 x 199 x 51.66
	1900		88.11 173 x 189 x 51.67
1967 Oct 29	1200		88.72 171 x 251 x 51.71
1967 Oct 30	0230		88.71 178 x 243 x 51.66
	0310	Orbit trim burn for launch of s/c 5
			88.63 164 x 250 x 51.69
	0500		88.69 180 x 240 x 51.67
	0920	Docked with 7K-OK No. 5
	1250	Undocked
	2300		88.96 192 x 255 x 51.64
1967 Oct 31	0738	Deorbit rev 65
	0742	PAO, BO sep
	0750	Ballistic descent mode
	0812	Landed in Kazakhstan

Kosmos 199

  1968-003A

---

Zenit-2 No. 59 was launched in Jan 1968 from Plesetsk into a 65.6 degree orbit. The Blok-I third stage entered orbit with the Zenit-2 attached, but the payload then failed to separate for the first 38 to 42 orbits, as noted in the RAE tables, because the pyro separation charges failed. This resulted in the depletion of the attitude control fuel and the flight was carried out in unstabilized mode. Reentry was attempted on Jan 24, but the trajectory was off course and the SA and PO remained in orbit with a low perigee. The APO system destroyed the SA over the Sea of Okhotsk on orbit 126. The PO continued transmitting until Jan 25. Many pieces of debris were tracked by NORAD, most of which reentered between Jan 30 and Feb 2.

Kosmos-199
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1968 Jan 16	1200:01	Launch by 11A57	NIIP-53 LC41/1
	1204	Blok-I burn
	1209	Blok-I cutoff
	1210?	Blok-I failed to sep
			90.2 204 x 386 x 65.7 (TASS)
1968 Jan 17	0930		90.11 202 x 362 x 65.64 (RAE)
1968 Jan 19	0400?	Blok-I separated
	0720		90.19 205 x 361 x 65.6
1968 Jan 20	0500		90.15 204 x 364 x 65.63 (RAE)
1968 Jan 24	0603		90.08 199 x 356 x 65.6
	0718		89.00 178 x 271 x 65.6
	0735?	Deorbit burn
	0750?	SA separated from PO
1968 Jan 24	0802	SA destroyed by APO
1968 Jan 30		Main debris reentry begins
1968 Jan 30	0930?	PO (03C) reentered
1968 Jan 31	1949		87.93 154 x 189 x 65.6
1968 Feb 2		Main debris reentry complete

Molniya 321

 1983-090A

---

Molniya-3 (F23, N21) was launched in 1983 Aug from Plesetsk and placed in plane E. In Sep 1984, the satellite was relocated by 90 deg; it was suggested by Flight International that the satellite might have been used for an experiment in maritime communications.

Molniya-3 No. 32
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1983 Aug 30	2249	Launch by 8K78M	PL
		BVGD sep
		GO sep
		T+4:46 Blok A sep
		T+4:56 KhO sep
		T+8:46 Blok-I MECO
	2257	T+8:50 Blok-I sep
		T+53:16 BOZ burn
	2342	T+53:56 BOZ sep
		ML burn
		T+56:46 ML MECO
	2345	T+56:54 ML sep
			735.5 429 x 40803 x 62.7
1983 Sep			718.3 428 x 39957 x 62.9
1984 Sep		Orbit adjust

Kosmos 13

  1963-006A

---

Zenit-2 No. 9 came a full 3 months after the previous flight, and also flew an 8 day mission.

Kosmos-13
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1963 Mar 21	0830:01	Launch by 8A92	KB
	0839?	Blok E sep
			89.65 192 x 324 x 65.0 (RAE)
			89.8 205 x 337 x 65.0 (TASS)
	1850		89.69 214 x 303 x 65.2
1963 Mar 23	0814		89.71 201 x 318 x 65.0
1963 Mar 27	1645		89.66 194 x 320 x 64.9
1963 Mar 29	0615?	Deorbit burn
	0621?	PO sep
	0635?	Landed

Kosmos 1704

 1985-110A

---

Plane C

Kosmos-1704
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1985 Nov 28	1312:41	Launch by 11K65M	Plesetsk
		T+2:10 St 1 MECO
		T+2:12 St 1 sep
		T+2:12 St 2 burn 59km
		T+2:27 Fairing Sep 76km
	1320?	T+8:03 St 2 MECO 150 km	150 x 1003? x 83
		T+1:02:19 St 2 MES2
		T+1:02:30 St 2 MECO2
	1415?	T+1:02:50 St 2 sep
1985 Nov 28			962x1009x82.9

Kosmos 153

  1967-030A

---

Zenit-2 No. 48 was launched in Apr 1967, again to a 64.6 degree orbit from Plesetsk. The spacecraft landed 240 km SE of Kustanai. 

Kosmos-153
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1967 Apr 4	1400	Launch by Vostok 8A92	NIIP-53 LC41/1
	1404?	Blok-E burn
	1410?	Blok-E sep
			89.3 202 x 291 x 64.6 (TASS)
1967 Apr 5	0607		89.27 198 x 277 x 64.6
1967 Apr 12	0305		89.06 194 x 261 x 64.6
1967 Apr 12	0730?	Deorbit
	0755	Landed after 7.74d

Mars 4

  1973-047A

---

The first of the 1973 Mars probes was 3MS No. 52S, named Mars-4 after launch. A propellant leak in the Mars-4 propulsion system meant that plans for Mars orbit insertion had to be cancelled, and the spacecraft was reprogrammed to make flyby observations from its periapsis of 2200 km. It returned a small number of images.

Mars-4
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1973 Jul 21	1930:59	Launch by Proton-K	KB
	1933	Stage 1 sep
	1935	Stage 2 sep
	1940	Stage 3 MECO
	1940	Stage 3 sep
	1945	Blok-D MES-1
	1947?	Blok-D MECO-1
1973 Jul 21	2107	Blok-D burn 2, solar orbit
	2113?	Blok-D MECO-2
	2113?	Blok-D sep
1973 Jul 30		TCM 29.4m/s
1974 Jan 31		TCM-2? 5.5m/s
1974 Feb 10	1528	Scheduled MOI
	1534	Mars flyby, 2200 km
	1609	Begin occultation (ERT)
	1711	End occultation (ERT)

DMSP 2

  1967-010A

---

The second Thor Burner 2 satellite was launched on 1967 Feb 8 into a noon-midnight sun-synchronous orbit. DMSP F18 carried a video system. This was the last SAC Thor launch until 1980.

DSAP 02418
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1967 Feb 8	0800:52	Launch by Thor Burner 2	V 4300B6
	0803:30?	Thor VECO
	0803:34?	Thor sep	-5650? x 850? x 98.8
	0811?	Burner 2 burn 42s
		Burner 2 sep	101.6 796 x 868 x 98.84
1967 May 18		End of operations

Lunar Orbiter 3

  1967-008A

---

Lunar Orbiter 3 was launched on 1967 Feb 5 at 0117 by Atlas Agena D from Cape Kennedy. After a 15 min Earth orbit coast, the Agena reignited at around 0140 to insert Lunar Orbiter III on a translunar trajectory. The midcourse maneuver was made on Feb 6 and the LOI-1 burn was made at 2155 on Feb 8, inserting LO-3 in a 216 x 1791 km orbit. On Feb 12 it was altered to a 55 x 1847 km x 20.9 deg orbit. The photo mission was concluded early due to problems with the readout system - and on March 4 the readout system failed entirely, with 72 of 211 frames still to be downlinked. The mission imaged several Apollo sites and spotted the Surveyor I spacecraft on the lunar surface. From Apr 17 to 21, LO-3 and LO-2 were used in tests for operating multiple spacecraft using the same frequency band. More orbit adjustments were made at 1745 on Apr 12 to shorten an eclipse, on Jun 17 to lengthen orbital life, and on Aug 30 to lower the orbit to simulate an Apollo mission reference orbit. Lunar Orbiter III was finally deorbited on 1967 Oct 9 at 1027.

Lunar Orbiter III
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1967 Feb 5	0117:01	Launch by Atlas Agena D	CK LC13
	0119:10	T+2:09 BECO
	0121:49	T+4:48 SECO
	0122:10	T+5:09 VECO
	0122:12	T+5:11 Fairing
	0122:15	T+5:14 Atlas 5803 sep	-4091 x 182 x 29.5
	0123:12	T+6:11 Agena 6632 burn 1
	0125:48	T+8:47 Agena MECO-1	88.2 180 x 202 x 29.5
	0135:26	T+18:25 Agena burn 2
	0136:55	T+19:54 Agena MECO-2	172 x 408662 x 29.8
	0139:39	T+22:38 Agena sep
	0150	T+33m Agena retro
			180 x 412065 x 29.8
1967 Feb 6	1502	TCM 5.1m/s
	1715		40 x 404120 x 30.2
1967 Feb 8	2154:19	LOI-1 burn 9:03 704.3m/s
	2204	LOI	200 x 1802 x 20.93
1967 Feb 8			213 x 1796 x (32.4) B1950
1967 Feb 12	1813:26	LOI-2 50.7m/s 33.7s	55 x 1847 x 20.9
		209.0 63 x 2120 x 20.93 (MOR)
1967 Feb 15		Photo mission begins
1967 Feb 23		Photo mission ends
1967 Mar 4		Readout system failed
1967 Mar 9		Begin extended mission	55 x 1845 x 21.05
1967 May 25		Solar proton event, 40 rad
1967 Apr 12			59 x 1841 x 21.3
1967 Apr 12	1745	TCM 5m/s 3.5s phasing	59 x 1824 x 22.7
1967 May
			60 x 1824 x 21.05
1967 Jul 17	0121:46	TCM 14.4m/s 8.9s height adj	143 x 1824 x 21.05
1967 Aug
			144 x 1824 x 20.9
1967 Aug 30	1939:19	TCM 198.3m/s 128.5s	144 x 316 x 20.9
1967 Oct 9			102 x 358 x 21.2
1967 Oct 9	0933:05	Deorbit 32s, 53m/s	-15.8 x 334 x 21.2
	0933:38	Deorbit burn complete
	1027:11	Impact at 14.32N 92.70W

Kosmos 780

  1975-108A

---

Kosmos-780 carried a 20KS capsule.

Kosmos-780
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1975 Nov 21	0920	Launch by Soyuz-U	Baikonur
	0924	Blok-I burn
	0928	Blok-I sep
1975 Nov 22			89.30 201 x 278 x 65.0
1975 Nov 30		Capsule sep
1975 Dec 2			89.18 199 x 268 x 65.0
1975 Dec 3
	0514?	Deorbit
	0524?	PO sep
	0530?	Entry
	0545?	Landed

Kosmos 127

  1966-071A

---

Zenit-4 No. 22 was launched two days after the landing of No. 21 and repeated its mission, but with a lower orbit.

Kosmos-127
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1966 Aug 8	1129	Launch by 11A57	KB
	1133?	Blok-I burn
	1138?	Blok-I sep	89.1 201 x 267 x 51.8
1966 Aug 9	1831		89.20 205 x 264 x 51.8
1966 Aug 15	2300		89.10 200 x 259 x 51.8
1966 Aug 16	0920?	Retrofire
	0920?	PO sep
	0940?	Landed

Kosmos 96

  1965-094A

---

3MV-4 No. 6 was the final 3MV series launch, intended to be a Venera-4 Venus flyby mission. At the end of ascent one of the four third stage combustion chambers exploded. The fourth stage failed to operate and the probe remained in Earth orbit. The 3MV-4 space probe and the Blok-L stage remained attached and were given the cover name Kosmos-96.

Kosmos-96
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1965 Nov 23	0322?	Launch by 8K78M	KB
	0327?	Blok-A sep
	0327?	Blok-I burn
	0330?	T+8:48, Blok-I engine exploded
	0331?	Blok-I sep	89.2 209 x 262 x 51.9
	0422?	BOZ burn failed?
	0423?	Blok-L failed to ignite
1965 Dec 9		Reentered

Apollo AS-202

  1966-U06

---

The second CSM to be launched, SC011 was launched at 1715 on 1966 Aug 25 aboard the AS-202 mission to test the CM heatshield at high heat load. It separated from the S-IVB stage, fired its SPS engine for a 3.5 min burn, reached an 1140 km apogee, and began to descend. The next SPS burn was for 90s, followed by two burns of 3s each to test restart capability. Reentry was at 8.69 km/s. Apollo SC011 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean south of Wake Island at 1849 UTC. It was recovered by the USS Hornet.

AS-202
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1966 Aug 25	1715:32	Launch by Saturn IB
	1717:52	T+2:20 IECO
	1717:55	T+2:23 OECO
	1717:56	T+2:24 SIB sep
	1717:57	S4B MES
	1718:08	Ullage motor jettison
	1718:20	LES jett
	1718:21	Cameras ejected from SIB
	1719:45	SIB apogee 110 km
	1725:20	T+9:48 MECO	-2342 x 268 x 31.9
	1725:30	SLA panels hinge open
	1725:30	T+9:58 CSM sep 222 km 6.80 km/s	-2331 x 268 x 31.8
	1725:32	RCS +X
	1725:42	SPS-1 burn 215s mass 20169 kg dV=0.97km/s	-2325 x 268 x 31.86
	1729:17	SPS-1 cutoff mass 13811 kg? or 13508 kg	-231 x 1141 (Tab7.11-III)
	1748		-232 x 1146 x 31.44 (dV)
	1756:46	CSM apogee 1143 km	-219 x 1142 x 31.50
	1821	+X RCS
	1821:28	SPS-2 burn 13481 kg 457 km 90s dV = 0.66km/s? 7.641 km/s	-230 x 1162 x 31.51
	1822:56	SPS-2 cutoff 374 km 8.364 km/s	53 x 3762 x 31.36
	1823:06	Burn 3, 3s 365 km 8.375 km/s	53 x 3770 x 31.35
	1823:09	SPS-3 cutoff 361 km 8.405 km/s	56 x 3918 x 31.35
	1823:19	Burn 4, 3s 350 km 8.420 km/s	56 x 3938 x 31.35
	1823:22	SPS-4 cutoff 345 km 8.448 km/s	59 x 4082 x 31.36
	1825		59 x 4091 (Tab 7.11-IV)
	1826:36	CM/SM sep 174 km 8.630 km/s	57 x 4082 x 31.33
	1828:00	122 km 4.83S 136.0E 8.690km/s -3.53 deg	57 x 4101 x 31.33
	1828:00	T+1:12:28 Entry 8.690 km/s
	1830:07	RCS roll burns to raise height
	1830:57	T+1:15:25 Begin skip 65.5 km 2.2N 147E	65 x 247
	1833:52	T+1:18:20 79 km 8.0N 155E	-2438 x 79
	1837:12	T+1:21:40 54 km 14N 165E
	1843:39	RCS depletion
	1848:34	Splashdown 16 07N 168 54E
1966 Aug 26	0317	Aboard recovery ship

Kosmos 170

  1967-074A

---

Another OGCh test was launched on 1967 Jul 31 and made one orbit of the Earth. The payload was aimed at the Novaya Kazanka target but overflew by 73 km.

Kosmos-170
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1967 Jul 31	1645	Launch by 8K69	KB
	1647	Stage 2 burn
	1650	Stage 2 sep	88.19 121 x 252 x 49.46 (RAE)
	1650	Adapter sep
	1730		87.94 135 x 209 x 49.7
	1818?	Deorbit
	1819?	Deorbit sep
	1821?	Impact near GTsP4