COSMOS 337

COSMOS 337 is an active satellite operated by OKB-10 (Russia (CIS)), launched on 1970-04-25 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia on the Strela-1M launch. After more than 56 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 1,468 km and 1,551 km with an inclination of 74.0°. It travels at approximately 25,603 km/h (7.11 km/s), completing one full orbit every 116 minutes — that’s roughly 12.39 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Orbital Radar tracks COSMOS 337 in real time using the latest two-line element set (TLE) data, providing live position, altitude, speed and orbital path updated continuously.

COSMOS 337 orbits at an average altitude of 1,510 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 337’s average altitude, there are currently 282 active payloads and 404 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 74.0°, COSMOS 337 passes over latitudes between 74.0°N and 74.0°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 268 share a similar altitude band with COSMOS 337.