Kosmos 615

Kosmos 615 (Russian: Космос 615 meaning Cosmos 615), also known as DS-P1-I No. 13, was a satellite which was used as a radar target for anti-ballistic missile tests. It was launched by the Soviet Union in 1973 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme.^[1]

Launch

It was launched aboard a Kosmos-2I 63SM rocket,^[2] from Site 133/1 at Plesetsk. The launch occurred at 11:10:03 UTC on 13 December 1973.^[3]

Kosmos 615 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 270 kilometres (170 mi), an apogee of 834 kilometres (518 mi), 71 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 95.7 minutes.^[1] It decayed from orbit on 17 December 1975.^[4]

Kosmos 615 was the thirteenth of nineteen DS-P1-I satellites to be launched.^[1] Of these, all reached orbit successfully except the seventh.^[5]

^ ^a ^b ^c Wade, Mark. "DS-P1-I". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
^ Wade, Mark. "Kosmos 2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
^ Wade, Mark. "DS". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 31 March 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2009.

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