CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1973-0363
COSMOS 260
COSMOS 260 (NORAD 3619) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 9 July 1973, after 4 years, 6 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
3619
International designator
1968-115A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
16 Dec 1968Baikonur Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
9 Jul 1973UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
4 years, 6 months1,666 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
64.8°N to 64.8°SFinal inclination 64.8°
Mass
1,650 kg
Operator
TsUKOS
Built by
OKB-10
Bus
Molniya-1
Programme
Molniya-1
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 64.8°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 64.8°N and 64.8°S.
Life in orbit
4 years, 6 monthsCOSMOS 260’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 9 Jul 1973
2 entriesFrom the same launch
1968-115
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1973-0363
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1973-0363
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.