Mission type Optical imaging SATCAT no. 517 | Harvard designation 1962 Beta Omega 1 Mission duration 8 days Launch date 22 December 1962 | |
Launch mass 4,730.0 kilograms (10,427.9 lb) Manufacturer S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia | ||
Kosmos 12 (Russian: Космос 12 meaning Cosmos 12) or Zenit-2 No.6 was a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1962. A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 12 was the seventh of eighty-one such satellites to be launched and had a mass of 4,730.0 kilograms (10,427.9 lb).
A Vostok-2 rocket, serial number T15000-10, was used to launch Kosmos 12. The launch took place from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 09:23 UTC on 22 December 1962. Following its successful arrival in orbit the spacecraft received its Kosmos designation, along with the Harvard designation 1962 Beta Omega 1 and the Satellite Catalog Number 517.
Kosmos 12 was operated in a low Earth orbit. On 24 December 1962 it had a perigee of 199 kilometres (124 mi), an apogee of 386 kilometres (240 mi), with inclination of 64.9 degrees and an orbital period of 90.37 minutes. On 30 December 1962 the spacecraft was deorbited, with its return capsule descending by parachute for recovery.