Kosmos 601
Kosmos 601 ( meaning "Cosmos 601"), known before launch as DS-P1-Yu No.60, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1973 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests. Launch. Kosmos 601 was successfully launched into low Earth orbit at 14:00:01 UTC on 16 October 1973. The launch took place from Site 133/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, and used a Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket. Orbit. Upon reaching orbit, the satellite was assigned its  Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1973-075A. The North American Aerospace Defense Command assigned it the catalogue number 06875. Kosmos 601 was the sixty-fifth of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched, and the fifty-ninth of seventy two to successfully reach orbit. It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of , an apogee of , 81.8 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 100.9 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 15 August 1974.