Kosmos 259 (Russian: Космос 259 meaning Cosmos 259), also known as DS-U2-I No.3, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1968 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme.

It was a 325-kilogram (717 lb) spacecraft,[1] which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used to study the effects on radio waves of passing through the ionosphere.

[1] A Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket was used to launch Kosmos 259 into low Earth orbit.

[2] The launch occurred at 05:09:54 UTC on 14 December 1968, and resulted in the successful insertion of the satellite into orbit.

[4] The North American Aerospace Defense Command assigned it the catalogue number 03612.