Kosmos 295

Kosmos 295 (Космос 295 meaning Cosmos 295), known before launch as DS-P1-Yu No.29, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1969 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 325 kg spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.

Launch
Kosmos 295 was launched from Site 133/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, atop a Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket. The launch occurred on 22 August 1969 at 14:14:57 UTC, and resulted in Kosmos 295's successful deployment into low Earth orbit. Upon reaching orbit, it was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1969-073A.

Kosmos 295 was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 262 km, an apogee of 433 km, 70.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.5 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 1 December 1969. It was the twenty-fourth of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched, and the twenty-second of seventy two to successfully reach orbit. Kosmos 295 replaced the previous DS-P1-Yu satellite, #23, which had failed to reach orbit due to a problem with the second stage of its carrier rocket.