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 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 ...

launched in 1962. It was the seventh satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the second successful launch of a Soviet reconnaissance satellite.

Spacecraft

Kosmos 7 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 also marked the first successful launch of a Vostok-2, on the second attempt. It had a mass of . The first Vostok-2 launch, also carrying a Zenit-2 satellite, suffered an engine failure seconds after launch on 1 June 1962, fell back to earth and exploded within of the launch pad. Kosmos 7 was one of a series of Soviet Earth satellites whose purpose was to study outer space, the upper layers of the atmosphere, and the Earth. Scientific data and measurements were relayed to Earth by multichannel telemetry systems equipped with space-borne memory units.

Mission

Vostok-2, s/n T15000-07, was used to launch Kosmos 7. 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 09:18:31

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 28 July 1962. Kosmos 7 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 64.95°, 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 90.1 minutes. It conducted a four-day mission, 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 1 August 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 ...

. It was the second Zenit-2 to reach orbit, the first being

Kosmos 4 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 reconnaissance satellite to successfully reach orbit. Spacecraft Kosmos 4 was a Zenit-2 satel ...

. The next Zenit-2 launch will be

Kosmos 9 Kosmos 9 (russian: Космос 9 meaning ''Cosmos 9''), also known as Zenit-2 No.7, was a Soviet reconnaissance satellite launched in 1962. It was the ninth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the third successful launch o ...

. In addition to reconnaissance, it was also used for radiation measurements made for safety during the flight of the

Vostok 3 Vostok 3 (russian: Восток-3, lit=Orient 3' or 'East 3) and Vostok 4 (, 'Orient 4' or 'East 4') were Soviet space program flights in August 1962, intended to determine the ability of the human body to function in conditions of weightlessne ...

and

Vostok 4 Vostok 3 (russian: Восток-3, lit=Orient 3' or 'East 3) and Vostok 4 (, 'Orient 4' or 'East 4') were Soviet space program flights in August 1962, intended to determine the ability of the human body to function in conditions of weightlessne ...

spacecraft.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosmos 0007 Spacecraft launched in 1962 1962 in the Soviet Union Kosmos satellites Spacecraft which reentered in 1962

Spacecraft

Mission

See also

References