Mission type Optical imaging SATCAT no. 919 Spacecraft type Zenit-2 Rocket Vostok-2 | COSPAR ID 1964-070A Mission duration 8 days Launch date 28 October 1964 | |
Launch mass 4,730.0 kilograms (10,427.9 lb) Manufacturer S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia People also search for Kosmos 48, Kosmos 35, Kosmos 46 | ||
Kosmos 50 (Russian: Космос 50 meaning Cosmos 50) or Zenit-2 No.25 was a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1964. A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 50 was the twenty-fourth of eighty-one such satellites to be launched and had a mass of 4,730.0 kilograms (10,427.9 lb).
Kosmos 50 was launched by a Vostok-2 rocket, serial number R15002-02, flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch took place at 10:48 UTC on 28 October 1964, and following its successful arrival in orbit the spacecraft received its Kosmos designation; along with the International Designator 1964-070A and the Satellite Catalog Number 919.
Kosmos 50 was operated in a low Earth orbit; at an epoch of 29 October 1964 it had a perigee of 187 kilometres (116 mi), an apogee of 232 kilometres (144 mi) inclination of 51.2 degrees and an orbital period of 88.69 minutes. On 5 November 1964, after eight days in orbit, an attempt was made to deorbit the satellite so that its photographs could be developed and analysed. After its retrorockets failed to fire, the satellite was commanded to self-destruct to ensure it could not fall into enemy hands. Ninety-five pieces of debris were catalogued, which decayed from orbit between 8 and 17 November.