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
#1,563
CCCP Mission
#817
Pad Launch
#61
Location Launch
#348
Designator
1974-023
Apr 20, 1974, 8:53 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
Apr 20, 1974, 11:53 PM
Total Launches
1,686
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
62.9256, 40.5778
