Kosmos 1241 (Russian: Космос 1241 meaning Cosmos 1241) was a target satellite which was used by the Soviet Union in the 1980s for tests of anti-satellite weapons as part of the Istrebitel Sputnikov programme.

It was launched at 08:29 UTC on 21 January 1981,[3] using a Kosmos-3M carrier rocket,[4] flying from Site 132/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northwest Russia.

Kosmos 1241 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 989 kilometres (615 mi), an apogee of 995 kilometres (618 mi), 65.8 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 105 minutes.

This was intended to have been a destructive test; however, the explosive charge aboard Kosmos 1243 failed to detonate.

[1][5] Kosmos 1241 was the ninth of ten Lira satellites to be launched,[2] of which all but the first were successful.