COSMOS 86

COSMOS 86 is an active satellite operated by OKB-10 (Russia (CIS)), launched on 1965-09-18 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 1,287 km and 1,626 km with an inclination of 56.1°. It travels at approximately 25,690 km/h (7.14 km/s), completing one full orbit every 115 minutes — that’s roughly 12.52 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 86 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 86 orbits at an average altitude of 1,457 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 86’s average altitude, there are currently 551 active payloads and 380 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 56.1°, COSMOS 86 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 494 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 86.