DS satellites are a series of satellites made to be universal, and easily modifiable according to customer needs. After a first launch in 1962, almost two hundred satellites will be launched. Several generations of DS satellites will be developed, some used for scientific studies, while others will be used by the Red Army for radar calibration. After flying two demonstration series (DS-1 and DS-2), the DS satellites will have three universal versions (DS-U1, unstabilized and battery-powered, DS-U2, unstabilized and solar-powered, DS-U3, stabilized). Versions will also be produced to fly international experiments, leading to the Intercosmos program.

This flight flew a DS-P1 You satellite. For the needs of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union, the DS-P1 radar calibration satellites were declined in a new version, the DS-P1 You, or 11F618. "You" is, in Russian, the first letter of the word Юстировка, which means "calibration". The DS-P1 You were initially launched by Cosmos launchers (63S1), then by Cosmos-2 (11K63) from 1966.

They could be placed on four types of orbits, according to the needs of the military. These satellites have a variable mass, between 193kg and 240kg depending on the on-board equipment. Their telecommunications system includes the Roubine-1D orbit tracking system, the Mayak (VHF) transmitter, the Tral-P1 telemetry system and the BKRL-2D remote control system. They are also equipped with the PVM-1 and PVM-2 internal clock systems.

Three units were first launched in 1964 and 1965 (including one failure) to qualify the DS-P1 You satellite. These three test flights were followed by 76 operational launches up to 1976 (including six failures).