It was a 250-kilogram (550 lb) spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.

[1] Kosmos 408 was successfully launched into low Earth orbit on 24 April 1971, with the rocket lifting off at 11:15:02 UTC.

[2] The launch took place from Site 133/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome,[3] and used a Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket.

[5] It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 197 kilometres (122 mi), an apogee of 1,383 kilometres (859 mi), 81.8 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 100.66 minutes.

[1][6] It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 29 December 1971.