Kosmos 257
Introduction '''Kosmos 257''' ( meaning ''Cosmos 257''), known before launch as '''DS-P1-Yu No.17''', was a Soviet satellite which was used as a radar calibration target for tests of anti-ballistic missiles. It was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and launched in 1968 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It had a mass of .Kosmos 257 was launched from Site 133/1 at Plesetsk, atop a Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket. The launch occurred on 3 December 1968 at 14:52:21 UTC, and resulted in Kosmos 257's successful deployment into low Earth orbit. Upon reaching orbit, it was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1968-107A.Kosmos 257 was operated in an orbit with a perigee of , an apogee of , 70.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.10 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 5 March 1969.It was the seventeenth of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched, and the sixteenth of seventy two to successfully reach orbit.
See also *1968 in spaceflight
References