Kosmos 850

Kosmos 850 (Russian: Космос 850 meaning Cosmos 850), also known as DS-P1-Yu No.79, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1976 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 400-kilogram (880 lb) spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.[1]

Kosmos 850

Mission type	ABM radar target
COSPAR ID	1976-084A
SATCAT no.	09387
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	DS-P1-Yu
Manufacturer	Yuzhnoye
Launch mass	400 kilograms (880 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	26 August 1976, 11:00 (1976-08-26UTC11Z) UTC
Rocket	Kosmos-2I 63SM
Launch site	Plesetsk 133/1
End of mission
Decay date	16 May 1977 (1977-05-17)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	267 kilometres (166 mi)
Apogee altitude	479 kilometres (298 mi)
Inclination	70.9 degrees
Period	92 minutes

A Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket was used to launch Kosmos 850 from Site 133/1 of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.[2] The launch occurred at 11:00 UTC on 26 August 1976, and resulted in the successfully insertion of the satellite into low Earth orbit.[3] Upon reaching orbit, the satellite was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1976-084A.[4] The North American Aerospace Defense Command assigned it the catalogue number 09387.

Kosmos 850 was the last of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched,[1] of which seventy two successfully achieved orbit.[5] It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 267 kilometres (166 mi), an apogee of 479 kilometres (298 mi), 70.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 92 minutes.[6] It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 16 May 1977.[6]