Kosmos 243

  1968-080A

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The third Gektor/Zenit-2M flew an unusual mission profile. The 11 day flight was in a 71.3 degree orbit, launched from Baikonur - the highest inclination from the NIIP-5 range so far. This slot was the Baikonur equivalent of the Plesetsk flights at 72.9 degrees. Kosmos-243 is believed to have made observations of the NATO exercise Silver Tower 68. It also carried a Nauka package with a microwave radiometer to measure thermal radio emission for geophysical studies of the atmosphere and Earth surface.

Kosmos-243
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1968 Sep 23	0739:59	Launch by 11A57	KB
	0744	Blok-I burn
	0749	Blok-I sep	89.5 213 x 293 x 71.3
1968 Sep 24	0556		89.52 204 x 297 x 71.3
1968 Oct 2	0500?	Nauka package sep
	0751		89.40 201 x 287 x 71.3
1968 Oct 4	0304		89.36 200 x 284 x 71.3
1968 Oct 4	0434?	Retrofire
	0452?	Landed after 10.88d