CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1968-0277
COSMOS 242
COSMOS 242 (NORAD 3414) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 13 November 1968, after 1 month in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
3414
International designator
1968-079A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
20 Sep 1968Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
13 Nov 1968UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
1 month54 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
70.9°N to 70.9°SFinal inclination 70.9°
Mass
200 kg
Operator
Southern SDB / PVO
Built by
Southern SDB
Bus
DS-P1
Programme
DS-P1-I L
Where it came down
Latitude band its orbit allowedExact position not recorded
No position was recorded for this re-entry. Its final orbit, inclined at 70.9°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 70.9°N and 70.9°S.
Life in orbit
1 monthCOSMOS 242’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 13 Nov 1968
4 entriesFrom the same launch
1968-079
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1968-0277
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1968-0277
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.