CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2012-0473
COSMOS 2261
COSMOS 2261 (NORAD 22741) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 31 December 2012, after 19 years, 4 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
22741
International designator
1993-051A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
Russia
Launched
10 Aug 1993Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
31 Dec 2012UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
19 years, 4 months7,083 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
61.1°N to 61.1°SFinal inclination 61.1°
Mass
1,250 kg
Operator
PVO
Built by
Lavochkin / Kometa
Bus
Oko
Programme
Oko E
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 61.1°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 61.1°N and 61.1°S.
Life in orbit
19 years, 4 monthsCOSMOS 2261’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 31 Dec 2012
3 entriesFrom the same launch
1993-051
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2012-0473
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2012-0473
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.