Kosmos 231

  1968-058A

---

Zenit-2 No. 64 was launched from Baikonur into the traditional 65.0 degree orbit, the first use of this orbit for an 11A57-launched Zenit-2, and landed at 50 41 N 65 35 E, 300 km SE of Kustanai.

Kosmos-231
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1968 Jul 10	1950	Launch by 11A57	KB LC31
	1954	Blok-A sep
	1959	Blok-I sep	90.0 199 x 345 x 65.0 (RAE)
			89.7 211 x 330 x 65 (TASS)
1968 Jul 11	0440		89.70 205 x 313 x 65.0
1968 Jul 15	1916		89.64 202 x 310 x 65.0
1968 Jul 18	1725?	Deorbit
	1731?	PO sep
	1752	Landed

Hexagon 11

  1975-114A

---

HEXAGON 11
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1975 Dec 4	2030?	Launch by Titan IIID	V SLC4E
		T+1:49? Stage 1 burn 2:27
		T+1:55 SRM burnout
		T+1:55 SRM sep
		T+4:16 Stage 1 MECO
		T+4:16 Stage 1 sep
		T+4:16 Stage 2 burn
		T+5:05? Fairing
	2037?	T+7:44? Stage 2 MECO
	2038?	T+8:00 Stage 2 sep
			88.4 157 x 234 x 96.3
1975 Dec 7			88.32 154 x 228 x 96.3
	0900	Subsatellite ejected
1975 Dec 7			88.44 161 x 232 x 96.3
1976 Jan 15			88.33 155 x 228 x 96.2
1976 Jan 7	2235?	SRV-1 deorbit
1976 Jan 27	2303?	SRV-2 deorbit
1976 Feb 1		Mapping opportunity 206
1976 Feb 2	2325?	SRV-5 deorbit?
	2350?	SRV 1211-5 recovered after 60d
1976 Feb 6		DB-12 turned off
1976 Feb 20			88.59 156 x 253 x 96.2
1976 Feb 21	2220?	SRV-3 deorbit
1976 Mar 5			88.67 156 x 260 x 96.2
1976 Mar 29	2314?	SRV-4 deorbit
1976 Mar 31			88.82 157 x 273 x 96.2
1976 Apr 1	0952		88.76 156 x 269 x 96.2
1976 Apr 1	2220?	Reentered after 119d

Kosmos 1794

 1986-092A

---

Kosmos-1794 was satellite 1 of Strela-1M octuplet no. 40.

Kosmos-1794
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1986 Nov 21	0200:00	Launch by 11K65M	PL
		Stage 2 burn 1
	0207	T+7m Stage 2 MECO-1
		Stage 2 burn 2
	0258?	T+58m? Stage 2 sep
1987 Jun			115.66 1467 x 1501 x 74.02

Sunset Reunion

https://welib.org/md5/3eab905f6debc8c7fff2ad0504ddd3cb

DFH-36

 1992-064B

---

\imps{3.5}{images/92064}

---

Launch of FSW-1-4 and Freja

---

The FSW-1 No. 4 flight carried the Swedish Freja satellite into orbit as a secondary payload. Mass was 2060 kg.

FSW 1
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1992 Oct 6	0620:05	Launch by CZ2	JQ
	0622	T+2:10 MECO
	0622	Stage 2 burn
	0624?	T+4:02? Stage 2 MECO
	0627?	Stage 2 VECO
	0628?	FSW sep from upper adapter
	0629?	Upper adapter sep from stage 2
	0630?	Freja sep from stage 2
1992 Oct 7	1315		89.76 213 x 311 x 63.0
1992 Oct 12	2020		89.36 212 x 300 x 63.0
1992 Oct 13	0419?	Capsule sep
	0429	Capsule recovered	215 x 299 x 63.0
1992 Oct 15			89.53 212 x 289 x 63.0
1992 Oct 30			88.12 169 x 193 x 63.0
1992 Oct 31	1527		87.34 139 x 145 x 62.99
1992 Nov 2		Reentered

Kosmos 161

  1967-049A

---

Zenit-4 No. 31 was launched in May 1967 from Plesetsk and it was the second Zenit-4 flight at 65.6 degrees.

Kosmos-161
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1967 May 22	1400:00	Launch by 11A57	PL
	1404	Blok-I burn
	1409	Blok-I sep	89.71 201 x 321 x 65.64 (RAE)
1967 May 23	0743		89.73 200 x 321 x 65.6
1967 May 29	1131		89.60 196 x 312 x 65.6
1967 May 30	0834?	Deorbit
	0856?	Landed

Kosmos 145

  1967-019A

---

DS-U2-M No. 2 carried a maser clock like that on the first DS-U2-M satellite (Kosmos-97). It was used to measure the gravitational redshift predicted by Einstein's general theory.

Kosmos-145
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1967 Mar 3	0645	Launch by 11K63	GTsP4
	0647	Stage 2 burn
	0652?	Stage 2 sep, orbit insertion	108.60 215 x 2116 x 48.4
1967 Aug 30		End of ops
1968 Mar 8		Reentered

Kosmos 126

  1966-068A

---

Zenit-4 No. 21 was launched from Baikonur into a 51.8 degree orbit in Jul 1966, beginning a rapid series of Zenit-4 launches over the next several months. 

Kosmos-126
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1966 Jul 28	1050	Launch by 11A57	KB
	1054?	Blok-I burn
	1059?	Blok-I sep	90.0 204 x 350 x 51.8
1966 Jul 28	1808		90.05 207 x 346 x 51.8
1966 Jul 29	2238		90.05 209 x 343 x 51.8
1966 Aug 5	1803		89.97 207 x 338 x 51.8
1966 Aug 6	0600?	Retrofire
	0601?	PO sep
	0620?	Landed after 8.9d

GATV-3

  1966-019A

---

GATV 5003 comprised Agena 5003 mated with the TDA 3 payload. After the Gemini 8 mission the Agena propulsion systems were used for several orbit-changing burns.

TDA 3
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1966 Mar 16	1500:03	Launch from LC14
	1502:12	T+2:09 BECO
	1502:14	T+2:11 58 km booster sep	-5954 x 124 x 28.8
	1504:46	T+4:43 SECO
	1505:07	T+5:04 VECO
	1505:11	T+5:08 Atlas sep	-4398 x 293 x 29.0
		-4406 x 288 x 28.85 (SR6)
	1506:01	T+5:58 Agena SPS burn
	1506:20	T+6:17 Agena PPS burn	-4401 x 294 x 29.0
	1506:21	T+6:18 SPS shutdown
	1506:29	T+6:26 Fairing
	1509:23	T+9:20 PPS MECO, Orbit insertion	298 x 298 x 28.9
		Rendezvous by Gemini 8
	2315:24	Docking by Gemini 8
	2357:14	Undocking
			291 x 298 x 29.02
1966 Mar 17	1423:49	PPS-1 Orbit raise	298 x 407 x 28.86
1966 Mar 17	1944:37	PPS-2 Orbit raise 31m/s	407 x 407 x 28.88
1966 Mar 18	0757:28	PPS-3 Plane change 488m/s	407 x 618 x 30.6
	1242:25	PPS-4 Min impulse 29m/s	407 x 515 x 30.6
	1620:21	PPS-5 Plane change	477 x 710 x 29.0
	1927:54	PPS-6 HA	410 x 476 x 29.0
	2320:10	PPS-7 HA	410 x 753 x 29.0
1966 Mar 19	0409:01	PPS-8 HA	410 x 413 x 29.0
	0911:49	SPS-II-1 Cal burn 21s
1966 Mar 19	1120		407 x 411 x 28.9
	1219:50	SPS-II-2 Inc adjust 50s
1966 Mar 25	0300?	End of transmissions
1966 Jul 20	2220?	Rendezvous by Gemini 10
		EVA contact by Collins
1966 Nov 4	1127		92.31 382 x 392 x 28.9
1967 Jul 23			90.60 303 x 304 x 28.9
1967 Sep 14			88.33 188 x 195 x 28.9
1967 Sep 15	2010?	Reentered

ESSA 1

  1966-008A

---

The next operational Tiros to be launched was Tiros OT3, at 0741 on 1966 Feb 3. Reaching orbit successfully at 0755, it was renamed ESSA I (Environmental Survey Satellite) to mark the Environmental Science Services Administration's funding and control of the operational weather satellite program. ESSA I orbited at 702 x 845 km x 97.9 deg. Replaced as primary satellite by ESSA 3 on 1966 Oct 2, it continued transmitting until 1968 Jun 13. 

Based on the post-third-stage-burn orbit, on the first orbit at the time of the burn, ESSA 1 was travelling southbound over the equator at 83W, over the coast of Ecuador, after a 7.5 min coast from Delta SECO.

First, I try and reconstruct assuming the documented 8.4 deg yaw (GSFC X-480-66-2) declared to be typical of a TOS launch. Final V2 is 7.526 km/s at flight path angle -0.36 deg, azimuth 188 deg, with the satellite at 722 km high descending toward perigee. This corresponds to a velocity vector of ( -1.021, -7.456, -0.047) km/s in coordinates (east, north, radial out). Impulsive dV is 2.114 km/s at pitch -47 deg, yaw -8.4 deg. Those angles are relative to the attitude of the stage, not to its velocity vector. We can assume the initial attitude is roughly the same as the SECO inertial velocity vector which would have been pitched up, perhaps 25-30 deg or so, but we don't know it in detail; the yaw is then relative to the SECO orbital plane. Let's assume that the actual X-258 burn was horizontal, which would be most efficient if they had freedom to arrange the preburn vector. Then we just have (ignoring the 0.05 km/s of radial velocity) V1 = ( V1 cos i1, V1 sin i1, 0 ) and dV = ( dV cos (i1+yaw), dV sin ( i2+yaw), 0 ), and given dV and yaw we can solve for V1 and i1. For small values of yaw of 8-16 degrees we get prior inclinations of around 94-97 deg, in which much of the burn goes into changing the southward velocity. In particular, 8.4 deg implies prior orbit of about -3860 x 722 x 95. This puts the Delta at 80W 20N at SECO time, a moderately plausible location south of Cuba.

ESSA 1
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1966 Feb 3	0741:23	Launch by Delta C	CK LC17A
		T+1:30 Begin yaw 61.9 deg, roll -35.3 deg, pitch -8.7 deg
		T+2:10 End dog-leg
	0743:48	T+2:25 Thor S/N 20112 MECO
	0743:52	Delta S/N 20104 burn, 2:42
	0743:54	Begin 4.16 deg yaw
	0744:00	End yaw
	0744:06	Begin -2.6 deg pitch
	0744:08	End pitch
	0745:12	Fairing
	0746:34	Delta SECO
	0746:50	Pitch -47.21 deg
	0748:40	Yaw -8.36 deg
	0753:43	Stage 3 spinup
	0753:45	Stage 2 sep
	0753:56	X-258-C4 RH-88 burn, 23s
	0754:20	T+12:57 X-258 burnout
	0754:20	Coning begins
	0755	X-258 sep	702 x 845 x 97.9
	0755	Stage 3 weights sep
	0802?	ESSA despin weights sep
1966 Oct 2		Replaced by ESSA 3
1968 Jun 18		End of ops

Kosmos 212

  1968-029A

---

7K-OK No. 8 (Kosmos-212) was launched in Apr 1968 as the active chase craft in a docking pair. Just before the launch of its partner, problems with the roll control engines were discovered but the decision was made to proceed with the second launch anyway.

Kosmos-212 made rendezvous the next day with the passive 7K-OK No. 7 and docked with it automatically using the Igla system, repeating the success of Kosmos-186. 14 engine burns were required, compared to 28 on the previous flight. The two spacecraft remained docked for a few hours; Kosmos-212 remained in orbit for tests for five more days.

Kosmos-212
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1968 Apr 14	1000:00	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
	1008	T+8:50 St 3 MECO
	1008:50	T+8:50 Blok-I sep	88.32 178 x 205 x 51.64
	1200		88.55 186 x 225 x 51.84 (RAE)
	1330	TCM-1 rev 5
		TCM-2 rev 5
1968 Apr 15	0500		88.31 181 x 201 x 51.67
	0954	Range to Kosmos 213 335m, rdot 2m/s
	1021	Docked with Kosmos-213
	1411	Undocked
1968 Apr 17	1400?	Rev 51, KTDU-35 test burn aborted
		Rev 52 test burn
1968 Apr 18	1430		88.72 174 x 253 x 51.60 (RAE)
1968 Apr 19	0730?	Deorbit
	0743?	BO, PAO sep
	0750?	Entry
	0811?	Landed near Karaganda

Raduga 18

 1986-007A

---

Raduga (Gran') No. 29 was launched to 25W over the Atlantic in Jan 1986.

Raduga No. 29 (F19)
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1986 Jan 17	1020	Launch by Proton-K	KB
	1029	Stage 3 sep
	1135?	DM burn 1
	1653?	DM burn 2
	1657?	DM sep
1986 Jan 17			1476.71 36483 x 36671 x 1.3 GEO 94.0E+9.9W
1986 Feb 2		mv in	1435.81 35778 x 35783 x 1.3 GEO 25.6W+0.07E
1986 May 16			1436.06 35770 x 35801 x 1.0 GEO 24.0W
1987 Jul 16			1436.22 35777 x 35801 x 0.1 GEO 25.5W
1988 May 6			1436.16 35781 x 35793 x 0.9 GEO 25.6W
1988 May 9			1435.83 35780 x 35782 x 0.9 GEO 25.5W+0.06E
1988 Jun 4			1435.91 35778 x 35787 x 1.0 GEO 24.0W
1988 Jun 14			1436.06 35778 x 35793 x 1.0 GEO 23.8W
1989 Jan 26			1436.07 35777 x 35794 x 1.0 GEO 25.5W
1989 Feb 23			1436.23 35781 x 35797 x 1.6 GEO 26.1W
1989 May 10			1436.17 35773 x 35802 x 1.9 GEO 25.4W
1989 Jun 29			1435.94 35779 x 35787 x 2.0 GEO 25.0W+0.03E
1989 Jul 2		mv out	1426.02 35426 x 35751 x 2.0
1989 Sep 26		braking	1436.38 35786 x 35797 x 2.2 GEO 169.1W+0.08W
1989 Dec 1			1436.11 35772 x 35800 x 2.4 GEO 171.4W
1990 Aug 16			1436.10 35779 x 35793 x 3.0 GEO 171.3W
1991 Apr 22			1435.95 35775 x 35791 x 3.6 GEO 170.5W

Town and Country: July 1992

 https://welib.org/md5/93252f67ef38feb9f333f0d3a6524692

Molniya 301

 1974-092A

---

Molniya-3 No. 11 (F1, N1) was launched on 1974 Nov 21 from Plesetsk. It operated until 1977 Dec in plane 3.

Molniya-3 No. 11
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1974 Nov 21	1033	Launch by 8K78M	PL LC41/1
		BVGD sep
		GO sep
		T+4:46 Blok A sep
		T+4:56 KhO sep
		T+8:46 Blok-I MECO
	1041	T+8:50 Blok-I sep
		T+53:16 BOZ burn
	1126	T+53:56 BOZ sep
		ML burn
		T+56:46 ML MECO
	1129	T+56:54 ML sep
1974 Nov 22			737.18 621 x 40686 x 62.8
1974 Nov 25	0148		737.27 628 x 40683 x 62.8
1974 Dec 3	1325		717.46 502 x 39837 x 62.8
1975 Aug 6			717.78 793 x 39561 x 62.9
1975 Sep 3			717.78 800 x 39554 x 63.0
1977 May 15			717.72 697 x 39654 x 64.0
1977 Dec 12		end of ops
1981 Jul 23			717.85 1908 x 38449 x 64.8
1985 Jan 30			717.64 298 x 40049 x 64.1
1985 Oct 16			701.83 128 x 39436 x 63.5
1986 Mar 19			205.53 96 x 10220 x 63.3
1986 May 14	1833		93.19 85 x 775 x 63.2
1986 May 15		Reentered

Molniya 132

  1974-023A

---

Molniya-1 F32 was launched on 1974 Apr 20 and replaced 1972-95A in the D plane.

Molniya-1 F32
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1974 Apr 20	2053	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
	2101	T+8:50 Blok-I sep
		T+53:16 BOZ burn
	2146?	T+53:56 BOZ sep
		ML burn
		T+56:46 ML MECO
	2149?	T+56:54 ML sep
1974 Apr 21	2243		737.54 655 x 40670 x 62.8
1973 Apr 23	1136		737.63 623 x 40705 x 62.9
1974 Apr 30	1205		717.94 628 x 39734 x 62.8
1974 Jun 30			717.81 626 x 39729 x 63.0
1975 Jan 15			717.65 554 x 39793 x 63.3
1979 Dec 9			717.75 1705 x 38647 x 64.9
1981 Dec 4			717.84 818 x 39539 x 64.7
1982 Oct 12			717.76 379 x 39974 x 64.4
1983 Aug 11			676.73 121 x 38188 x 63.7
1983 Nov 4			254.20 88 x 13740 x 63.5
1983 Nov 17			99.99 78 x 1437 x 63.5
1983 Nov 18	0920	Reentered