CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
1991-0173
COSMOS 2046
COSMOS 2046 (NORAD 20259) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 16 April 1991, after 1 year, 6 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
20259
International designator
1989-079A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
27 Sep 1989Baikonur Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
16 Apr 1991UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
1 year, 6 months566 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-PU
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
1 year, 6 monthsCOSMOS 2046’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 16 Apr 1991
1 entryFrom the same launch
1989-079
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1991-0173
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/1991-0173
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.