From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kosmos 1188
(
Russian
:
Космос 1188
meaning
Cosmos 1188
) was a Soviet
US-K
missile
early warning satellite
which was launched in 1980 as part of the Soviet military's
Oko
programme. The satellite was designed to identify missile launches using
optical telescopes
and
infrared sensors
.
[2]
It re-entered on May 24, 2013.
[4]
Kosmos 1188 was launched from
Site 41/3
at
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
in the Russian SSR.
[3]
A
Molniya-M
carrier rocket with a
2BL
upper stage was used to perform the launch, which took place at 20:52 UTC on 14 June 1980.
[3]
The launch successfully placed the satellite into a
molniya orbit
. It subsequently received its
Kosmos
designation, and the
international designator
1980-050A.
[5]
The
United States Space Command
assigned it the
Satellite Catalog Number
11844.
[5]
Its June 1980 launch was noted for triggering reports of a dolphin shaped UFO.
[6]
The launch created so many UFO reports, they revealed the satellite's approximate orbital inclination (about 62.5 degrees).
[7]
Some of the sightings may have been sunlight reflecting of fourth-stage exhaust contrails.
[7]
NBC noted the sightings's appearance in the Weinstein list.
[8]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
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Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in
underline
. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in
italics
. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).
|