303 Overwatch

Satellite directory · as of

NORAD 
12892

COSMOS 1261 DEB

A piece of debris owned by the Commonwealth of Independent States (former USSR), in a highly elliptical orbit, from a launch on 31 March 1981.

Published by 303 Overwatch A.S.B.L from CelesTrak, so that operators whose orbits it crosses can see whose debris this is.

This record is derived from the CelesTrak satellite catalogue (SATCAT) as built on . Check this record at CelesTrak, or cite this page.

All objects owned by the Commonwealth of Independent States (former USSR)

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The record

NORAD catalogue number
12892
Object type
Debris
Status
Unknown
Owner
Commonwealth of Independent States (former USSR)
International designator
1981-031E
Launch it came from
31 March 1981
Launch site
Plesetsk Missile and Space Complex, Russia
Orbit class
HEO
Orbiting
Earth
Perigee
121 km
Apogee
23,158 km
Inclination
62.09 degrees
Period
401.16 minutes
Radar cross-section
1.1082 square metres
Orbit sketchThe Earth as a disc and this object's orbit as an ellipse, both to the same scale: perigee 121 km, apogee 23,158 km.
To scale: the grey disc is the Earth, the line this orbit.

As of 
2026-11-10

Ground track

No current element set for this object: CelesTrak's list of active satellites, as built here on UTC, does not carry it, so no ground track is drawn.

Timeline

  1. The launch this piece of debris came from, at Plesetsk Missile and Space Complex, Russia.

  2. Still catalogued in orbit, 46 years after the launch it came from.

Source

This record is derived from the CelesTrak satellite catalogue (SATCAT), from US Space Force data published on Space-Track.org, as built on . Check this record at CelesTrak. This page carries no position and makes no prediction.

Art. 21(2)(f)

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