Kosmos 4 (russian: Космос 4 meaning ''Kosmos 4''), also known as Zenit-2 No.2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 14 was the first

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

to successfully reach orbit.

Spacecraft

Kosmos 4 was a

Zenit-2 The Zenit-2 is a Ukrainian, previously Soviet, expendable carrier rocket. First flown in 1985, it has been launched 37 times, with 6 failures. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets and was designed by the Yuzhmash. History With 13–15 ...

satellite, a first generation, low resolution reconnaissance satellite derived from the

Vostok spacecraft Vostok (russian: Восток, translated as "East") was a class of single-pilot crewed spacecraft built by the Soviet Union. The first human spaceflight was accomplished with Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The ...

used for crewed flights. It was the fourth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the second Soviet attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite, the previous attempt having failed after one of the

Vostok-K The Vostok-K (russian: Восток meaning ''"East"''), GRAU index 8K72K was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union for thirteen launches between 1960 and 1964, six of which were manned. It was derived from the earlier Vostok-L ...

engines shut down prematurely, on 11 December 1961. Kosmos 4 had a mass of .

Launch

It was launched on a

rocket, which was making its seventh flight. It was the last Zenit launch to use the Vostok-K, before launches switched to the Vostok-2 starting with the next launch attempt in June 1962. The launch was conducted from Site 1/5 at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

, and occurred at 10:02

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

on 26 April 1962. Kosmos 4 was placed into a

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

with a

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

of , an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

of , an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

of 65.0°, and an

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

of 90.60 minutes.

Mission

It conducted a four-day mission, to measure radiation before and after the U.S. nuclear tests conducted during project

Starfish Prime Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Defense Atomic Support Agency. It was launched from Johnston Atoll on July 9, 1962, and was the larges ...

. However, leaks from the

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

system tanks used for the orientation system resulted in the premature return of the spacecraft after three days of flight. During most of the flight the spacecraft was uncontrollable, before being deorbited and landing by

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

on 29 April 1962, and recovered by the Soviet forces in the steppe in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. The next Zenit launch attempt, scheduled for May 1962 but delayed to 1 June 1962, failed to reach orbit, but the next launch successfully reached orbit as

Kosmos 7 Kosmos 7 (russian: Космос 7 meaning ''Cosmos 7''), also known as Zenit-2 No.4 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 17 was a Soviet reconnaissance satellite launched in 1962. It was the seventh satellite to be designated under the Kosm ...

References

{{Orbital launches in 1962 Spacecraft launched in 1962 1962 in the Soviet Union Kosmos satellites Spacecraft which reentered in 1962

Spacecraft

Launch

Mission

See also

References