Mission type ABM radar target Spacecraft type DS-P1-Yu Rocket Kosmos-2I 63SM Launch date 18 July 1968 Decay date 7 February 1969 | COSPAR ID 1968-061A Launch mass 325 kilograms (717 lb) Launch site Plesetsk 133/1 Manufacturer Yuzhnoye Design Office | |
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Kosmos 233 (Russian: Космос 233 meaning Cosmos 233), known before launch as DS-P1-Yu No.15, 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 233 was launched from Site 133/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, atop a Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket. The launch occurred on 18 July 1968 at 19:59:50 UTC, and resulted in Kosmos 233's successful deployment into low Earth orbit. Upon reaching orbit, it was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1968-061A.
Kosmos 233 was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 198 kilometres (123 mi), an apogee of 1,406 kilometres (874 mi), 81.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 100.91 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 7 February 1969. It was the fifteenth of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched, and the fourteenth of seventy two to successfully reach orbit.