Mission type Optical imaging SATCAT no. 1404 | COSPAR ID 1965-046A Mission duration 8 days Launch date 15 June 1965 | |
Launch mass 4,730.0 kilograms (10,427.9 lb) Manufacturer S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia People also search for Kosmos 64, Kosmos 66, Kosmos 98 | ||
Kosmos 68 trailer
Kosmos 68 (Russian: Космос 68 meaning Cosmos 68) or Zenit-2 No.29 was a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1965. A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 68 was the twenty-eighth of eighty-one such satellites to be launched and had a mass of 4,730.0 kilograms (10,427.9 lb).
Kosmos 68 was launched by a Vostok-2 rocket, serial number U15001-01, flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch took place at 10:04 UTC on 15 June 1965, and following its successful arrival in orbit the spacecraft received its Kosmos designation; along with the International Designator 1965-046A and the Satellite Catalog Number 1404.
Kosmos 68 was operated in a low Earth orbit; at an epoch of 17 June 1965 it had a perigee of 200 kilometres (120 mi), an apogee of 319 kilometres (198 mi) inclination of 65 degrees and an orbital period of 89.7 minutes. On 23 June 1965, after eight days in orbit, the satellite was deorbited with its return capsule descending by parachute for recovery.