Kosmos (satellite)
series of Soviet and Russian military satellites
Kosmos (Russian: Космос, IPA: [ˈkosməs], meaning '(outer) space') is a designation given to many satellites operated by the Soviet Union and subsequently Russia. Kosmos 1, the first spacecraft to be given a Kosmos designation, was launched on 16 March 1962.
History
The first Soviet satellites orbiting Earth were named Sputnik, Polyot (starting in 1963), Elektron (in 1964), Proton (in 1965), and Molniya (in 1965), but most have been called Kosmos since Kosmos 1 on 16 March 1962. The program has included uncrewed tests of crewed spacecraft and satellites for scientific research and military purposes. As of January 2021, 2548 Kosmos satellites have been launched. The spacecraft do not form a single programme, but instead consist of almost all Soviet and Russian military satellites, as well as a number of scientific satellites, and spacecraft which failed during or immediately after launch, but still reached orbit.
Most Soviet and subsequently Russian military satellites were given Kosmos designations. Spacecraft include optical reconnaissance satellites, communications satellites, early warning missile defence spacecraft, nuclear-powered radar reconnaissance satellites, anti-satellite weapons and their targets, navigation satellites and technology demonstrators. Some scientific spacecraft such as Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik, Bion and Meteor satellites were also given Kosmos designations.
The designation is given only to satellites which are in Earth orbit.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q147802. The Library of Congress control number is sh85033187. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kosmos (satellite)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.