Kosmos (rocket family)

Kosmos (GRAU Index: 63S1,[3][4] also known as Cosmos), was the name of a Soviet space rocket model active between 1961 and 1967.

Initial development was authorised in October 1961,[11] leading to a maiden flight on 18 August 1964, carrying three Strela satellites.

[10][11] The Kosmos-3 (GRAU Index: 11K65,[12] also known as Cosmos-3), derived from the R-14 missile, was used to orbit satellites between 1966 and 1968, being quickly replaced by the modernised Kosmos-3M.

The Kosmos-3M used UDMH fuel and AK27I oxidizer (red fuming nitric acid) to lift roughly 1,400 kg (3,100 lb) of payload into orbit.

It differed from the earlier Kosmos-3 in its finer control of the second-stage burn, allowing operators to tune the thrust and even channel it through nozzles that helped orient the rocket for the launching of multiple satellites at one time.

PO Polyot manufactured these launch vehicles in the Russian city of Omsk for decades.