Mission type Technology Spacecraft type DS-MG Rocket Kosmos-2I 63S1 Launch date 18 March 1964 Decay date 28 September 1964 | COSPAR ID 1964-013A Launch mass 365 kilograms (805 lb) Manufacturer Yuzhnoye Design Office | |
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Kosmos 26 (Russian: Космос 26 meaning Cosmos 26), also known as DS-MG No.1 was a technology demonstration satellite which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1964 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. Its primary mission was to demonstrate an electric gyrodyne orientation system. It also carried a magnetospheric research package as a secondary payload.
It was launched aboard a Kosmos-2I 63S1 rocket from pad 2 of the Mayak Launch Complex at Kapustin Yar. The launch occurred at 15:07 UTC on 18 March 1964.
Kosmos 26 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 268 kilometres (167 mi), an apogee of 376 kilometres (234 mi), 48.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91 minutes. It decayed from orbit on 28 September 1964. Kosmos 26 was the first of two DS-MG satellites to be launched, the other being Kosmos 49.