Kosmos 12 (Russian: Космос 12 meaning Cosmos 12) or Zenit-2 No.7 was a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1962.

A Zenit-2 spacecraft, Kosmos 12 was the seventh of eighty-one such satellites to be launched.

In addition to reconnaissance, it was also used for research into radiation in support of the Vostok programme.

The launch took place from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 09:21:00 GMT on 22 December 1962.

[2] On 30 December 1962, the spacecraft was deorbited, with its return capsule descending by parachute for recovery by the Soviet forces in the steppe in Kazakhstan.