Kosmos 967
Soviet anti-satellite test target satellite
Kosmos 967 (Russian: Космос 967 meaning Cosmos 967) is a satellite which was used as a target for tests of anti-satellite weapons. It was launched by the Soviet Union in 1977 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme, and used as a target for Kosmos 970 and Kosmos 1009, as part of the Istrebitel Sputnikov programme.
It was launched aboard a Kosmos-3M carrier rocket, from Site 132/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The launch occurred at 15:53 UTC on 13 December 1977.
Kosmos 967 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 961 kilometres (597 mi), an apogee of 1,003 kilometres (623 mi), 65.8 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 104.7 minutes. It was successfully intercepted by Kosmos 970 in a non-destructive test on 21 December 1977. It was then re-used by Kosmos 1009 on 19 May 1978. Both tests were successful, and both left Kosmos 967 intact. As of 2023, it is still in orbit.
Kosmos 967 was the seventh of ten Lira satellites to be launched, of which all but the first were successful.
“Kosmos 967” enters the record as soviet anti-satellite test target satellite. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kosmos, Soviet and anti-satellite can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Kosmos 967” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Kosmos, Soviet and anti-satellite provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 4, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q53649. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1977, 1009, 1978 and 2023.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kosmos 967”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kosmos 967 primary sources, Kosmos 967 archive and Kosmos research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kosmos 967”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kosmos 967” 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.