CERTIFICATE OF RE-ENTRYOrbital Register™ · by Orbital Radar™
Entry no.
2013-0138
COSMOS 1271
COSMOS 1271 (NORAD 12464) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 3 May 2013, after 31 years, 11 months in orbit.
Official date
NORAD number
12464
International designator
1981-046A
Object type
Spacecraft
Country
USSR
Launched
19 May 1981Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Re-entered (UTC)
3 May 2013UTC calendar day
Time in orbit
31 years, 11 months11,672 days
How it ended
Re-entered (natural decay)
Latitude range
81.2°N to 81.2°SFinal inclination 81.2°
Mass
1,750 kg
Operator
GRU
Built by
Southern SDB
Bus
Tselina-D
Programme
Tselina-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 81.2°, allowed a re-entry anywhere between 81.2°N and 81.2°S.
Life in orbit
31 years, 11 monthsCOSMOS 1271’s lowest and highest points above Earth, week by week, from its tracking history.
Also ended on 3 May 2013
2 entries
Entered in the Orbital Register™, founding volume, September 2026.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2013-0138
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.
Record version 1 · No corrections · orbitalradar.com/register/2013-0138
© 2026 Orbital Radar. Cite this entry by its number; the register itself may not be copied.