Mission type ABM radar target Spacecraft type DS-P1-Yu Rocket Kosmos-2I 63SM Launch date 24 August 1967 Decay date 17 December 1967 | COSPAR ID 1967-081A Launch mass 325 kilograms (717 lb) Launch site Plesetsk 133/1 Manufacturer Yuzhnoye Design Office | |
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Kosmos 173 (Russian: Космос 173 meaning Cosmos 173), also known as DS-P1-Yu No.8 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 1967 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme.
A Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket was used to launch Kosmos 173 from Site 133/1 at Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The launch occurred at 04:59:49 UTC on 24 August 1967, and resulted in Kosmos 173's successful deployment into low earth orbit.
Kosmos 173 was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 261 kilometres (162 mi), an apogee of 471 kilometres (293 mi), 71.0 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.86 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 17 December 1967. It was the ninth of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched, and the eighth of seventy two to successfully reach orbit.