| Major contractors | Yuzhnoye |
|---|---|
| Bus | DS-K-8 |
| Mission type | Technology |
| Launch date | 18 August 1962 15:00 GMT |
| Carrier rocket | Kosmos-2I 63S1 |
| Launch site | Kapustin Yar Mayak-2 |
| Orbital decay | 17 August 1963 |
| COSPAR ID | 1962 Alpha Xi 1 |
| Mass | 337 kilograms (740 lb) |
| Orbital elements | |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Inclination | 49° |
| Apoapsis | 598 kilometres (372 mi) |
| Periapsis | 244 kilometres (152 mi) |
| Orbital period | 92.9 minutes |
Kosmos 8 (Russian: Космос 8 meaning Cosmos 8), also known as DS-K-8 #1 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 18 was a technology demonstration satellite which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. It was the eighth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the third spacecraft launched as part of the DS programme to successfully reach orbit, after Kosmos 1 and Kosmos 6. Its primary mission was to demonstrate the technologies for future Soviet military satellites. It also carried a micrometeoroid research payload which discovered meteoroid flux.[1]
It was launched aboard the eighth flight of the Kosmos-2I 63S1 rocket.[2] The launch was conducted from pad 2 of the Mayak Launch Complex at Kapustin Yar, and occurred at 15:00 GMT on 18 August 1962.[3]
Kosmos 8 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 244 kilometres (152 mi), an apogee of 598 kilometres (372 mi), 49 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 92.9 minutes.[1] It decayed on 17 August 1963, one day short of a year after its launch.[4] Kosmos 8 was the only DS-K-8 satellite to be launched.[1][5]
|
||||||||