Mission type ASAT target Spacecraft type Lira Reference system Geocentric Rocket Kosmos-3M | COSPAR ID 1976-120A Launch site Plesetsk 132/2 Launch date 9 December 1976 Manufacturer Yuzhnoye Design Office | |
Launch mass 650 kilograms (1,430 lb) People also search for Kosmos 839, Kosmos 803, Kosmos 959 | ||
Kosmos 880 (Russian: Космос 880 meaning Cosmos 880) was a satellite which was used as a target for tests of anti-satellite weapons. It was launched by the Soviet Union in 1976 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme, and used as a target for Kosmos 886, as part of the Istrebitel Sputnik programme.
It was launched aboard a Kosmos-3M carrier rocket, from Site 132/2 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The launch occurred at 20:00 UTC on 9 December 1976.
Kosmos 880 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 558 kilometres (347 mi), an apogee of 614 kilometres (382 mi), 65.8 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 96.3 minutes. It was successfully intercepted and destroyed by Kosmos 886 on 27 December. The last catalogued piece of debris decayed from orbit on 9 December 2001.
Kosmos 880 was the fourth of ten Lira satellites to be launched, of which all but the first were successful. Lira was derived from the earlier DS-P1-M satellite, which it replaced.