CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1972-0274
COSMOS 481
COSMOS 481 (NORAD 5906) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 2 September 1972, after 5 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
5906
International designator
1972-020A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
25 Mar 1972Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
2 Sep 1972UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
5 months161 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
71.0°N to 71.0°SFinal inclination 71.0°
Mass
200 kg
Operator
PVO
Built by
Southern SDB
Bus
DS-P1
Programme
DS-P1-Yu A
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 71.0°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 71.0°N and 71.0°S.
Life in orbit
5 monthsCOSMOS 481’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 2 Sep 1972
1 entryFrom the same launch
1972-020
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1972-0274
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1972-0274
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.