Mission type ABM radar target Spacecraft type DS-P1-Yu Rocket Kosmos-2I 63SM Launch date 30 May 1968 Decay date 11 October 1968 | COSPAR ID 1968-044A Launch mass 325 kilograms (717 lb) Launch site Plesetsk 133/1 Manufacturer Yuzhnoye Design Office | |
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Kosmos 222 (Russian: Космос 222 meaning Cosmos 222), known before launch as DS-P1-Yu No.12, 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 325 kilograms (717 lb).
Kosmos 222 was launched from Site 133/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, atop a Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket. The launch occurred on 30 May 1968 at 20:29:49 UTC, and resulted in Kosmos 222's successful deployment into low Earth orbit. Upon reaching orbit, it was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1968-044A.
Kosmos 222 was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 259 kilometres (161 mi), an apogee of 465 kilometres (289 mi), 70.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.8 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 11 October. It was the fourteenth of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched, and the thirteenth of seventy two to successfully reach orbit.