COSMOS 81

COSMOS 81 is an active satellite operated by OKB-10 (Russia (CIS)), launched on 1965-09-03 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on the Strela-1 launch. After more than 61 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,402 km and 1,536 km with an inclination of 56.1°. It travels at approximately 25,669 km/h (7.13 km/s), completing one full orbit every 115 minutes — that’s roughly 12.49 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 81 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 81 orbits at an average altitude of 1,469 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of COSMOS 81’s average altitude, there are currently 452 active payloads and 388 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 56.1°, COSMOS 81 passes over latitudes between 56.1°N and 56.1°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,553 active satellites in total, of which 427 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 81.