Status
Success
Cosmos 21
Launch Time
Mon Nov 11, 1963 06:23 UTC
Mon Nov 11, 1963 06:23 UTC
Rocket
Mission Details
Cosmos 21
Cosmos 21 was a Soviet spacecraft with an unknown mission. This mission has been tentatively identified by NASA as a technology test of the Venera series space probes. It may have been an attempted Venus flyby, presumably similar to the later Kosmos 27 mission, or it may have been intended from the beginning to remain in geocentric orbit. In any case, the spacecraft never left Earth orbit after insertion by the SL-6/A-2-e launcher. The orbit decayed on November 14, three days after launch.
Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 800.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit
Location
Site 1/5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Stats
1963
57th orbital launch attempt
Molniya
14th mission
4th mission of 1963
4th successful mission
2nd consecutive successful mission