[2] It was originally built as a specialised version of the earlier Vostok-2, for injecting lighter payloads into higher Sun-synchronous orbits.

The Vostok-2M made its maiden flight on 28 August 1964 from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, successfully placing Kosmos 44, a Meteor weather satellite into orbit.

At 16:01 GMT on 18 March 1980, a Vostok-2M exploded during fueling at Plesetsk Site 43/4, ahead of the launch of a Tselina-D satellite, killing 48 people who were working on the rocket at the time.

A filter in a hydrogen peroxide tank of the third stage had accidentally been soldered with lead instead of tin, with the catalytically active lead solder on the filter causing the explosion upon contact hydrogen peroxide.

The final flight was conducted on 29 August and carried the IRS-1B satellite for the Indian Space Research Organization.