CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2000-0232
COSMOS 1278
COSMOS 1278 (NORAD 12547) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 2 September 2000, after 19 years, 2 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
12547
International designator
1981-058A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
19 Jun 1981Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
2 Sep 2000UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
19 years, 2 months7,015 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
62.7°N to 62.7°SFinal inclination 62.7°
Mass
1,250 kg
Operator
PVO
Built by
Lavochkin / Kometa
Bus
Oko
Programme
Oko D
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 62.7°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 62.7°N and 62.7°S.
Life in orbit
19 years, 2 monthsCOSMOS 1278’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 2 Sep 2000
2 entriesFrom the same launch
1981-058
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2000-0232
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2000-0232
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.