CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1990-0159
COSMOS 1260
COSMOS 1260 (NORAD 12364) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 17 March 1990, after 8 years, 11 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
12364
International designator
1981-028A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
20 Mar 1981Baikonur Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
17 Mar 1990UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
8 years, 11 months3,284 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
65.0°N to 65.0°SFinal inclination 65.0°
Mass
3,300 kg
Operator
Soviet Navy
Built by
Arsenal / Kometa
Bus
US-P
Programme
US-P
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 65.0°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 65.0°N and 65.0°S.
Life in orbit
8 years, 11 monthsCOSMOS 1260’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 17 Mar 1990
1 entryFrom the same launch
1981-028
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1990-0159
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1990-0159
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.