Mission type ABM radar target Spacecraft type DS-P1-Yu Rocket Kosmos-2I 63SM Launch date 12 April 1973 Decay date 11 November 1973 | COSPAR ID 1973-020A Launch mass 400 kilograms (880 lb) Launch site Plesetsk 133/1 Manufacturer Yuzhnoye Design Office | |
People also search for Kosmos 558, Kosmos 580, Kosmos 608 | ||
Kosmos 553 (Russian: Космос 553 meaning Cosmos 553), known before launch as DS-P1-Yu No.55, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1973 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 400-kilogram (880 lb) spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.
Contents
Launch
Kosmos 553 was successfully launched into low Earth orbit at 11:49:55 UTC on 12 April 1973. The launch took place from Site 133/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, and used a Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket.
Orbit
Upon reaching orbit, the satellite was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1973-020A. The North American Aerospace Defense Command assigned it the catalogue number 06427.
Kosmos 553 was the sixty-first of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched, and the fifty-fifth of seventy two to successfully reach orbit. It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 264 kilometres (164 mi), an apogee of 470 kilometres (290 mi), 70.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.9 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 11 November 1973.