| Major contractors | Yuzhnoye |
|---|---|
| Bus | DS-P1-Yu |
| Mission type | ABM radar target |
| Launch date | 8 April 1975 18:29:56 GMT |
| Carrier rocket | Kosmos-2I 63SM |
| Launch site | Plesetsk Site 133/1 |
| Orbital decay | 6 January 1976 |
| COSPAR ID | 1975-026A |
| Mass | 400 kilograms (880 lb) |
| Orbital elements | |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Inclination | 70.9° |
| Apoapsis | 466 kilometres (290 mi) |
| Periapsis | 267 kilometres (166 mi) |
| Orbital period | 91.9 minutes |
Kosmos 725 (Russian: Космос 725 meaning Cosmos 725), also known as DS-P1-Yu #77, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1975 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 400-kilogram (880 lb) spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.[1]
A Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket was used to launch Kosmos 725 from Site 133/1 of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.[2] The launch occurred at 18:29:56 GMT on 8 April 1975, and resulted in the successfully insertion of the satellite into low Earth orbit.[3] Upon reaching orbit, the satellite was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1975-026A.[4] The North American Aerospace Defense Command assigned it the catalogue number 07730.
Kosmos 725 was the seventy-sixth of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched,[1] and the sixty-ninth of seventy two to successfully reach orbit.[5] It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 267 kilometres (166 mi), an apogee of 466 kilometres (290 mi), 70.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.9 minutes.[6] It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 6 January 1976.[6]