Communications
The Molniya were Soviet communication satellites operating from an inclined highly elliptical earth orbit of 500 km × 40000 km with 12 hour period for coverage of high northern latitudes.
Orbital Attempt
#1,301
CCCP Mission
#628
Pad Launch
#25
Location Launch
#216
Designator
1971-115
Dec 19, 1971, 10:50 PM
1 update
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile, it also served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7 and other rockets. Its high latitude makes it useful only for certain types of launches, especially the Molniya orbits, so for much of the site's history it functioned as a secondary location, with most orbital launches taking place from Baikonur, in the Kazakh SSR. With the end of the Soviet Union, Baikonur became a foreign territory, and Kazakhstan charged $115 million usage fees annually. Consequently, Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s.
Timezone
Europe/Moscow
Local Launch Time
Dec 20, 1971, 1:50 AM
Total Launches
1,686
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
62.9256, 40.5778
