USSR Ministry of Defense: Government / agency, launches, rockets and satellites

Industry / Companies / USSR Ministry of Defense

2,581Orbital launches

6,067All launches (incl. suborbital)

625Satellites in orbit

0Satellites built

5Rockets / spacecraft

USSR Ministry of Defense is a government organisation, founded in 1953. Our records show 2,581 orbital launches, 625 satellites in orbit and 5 rockets or spacecraft.

Totals include the divisions, sites and subsidiaries listed under Structure below.

Structure

Divisions, sites and subsidiaries

Strategic Rocket Forces 1,683 orbital launches · 93 satellites in orbit Upravleniye Nachalnika Kosmicheskikh Sredstv 898 orbital launches · 148 satellites in orbit Main Space Forces Directorate 0 orbital launches · 384 satellites in orbit Central Space Forces Directorate 0 orbital launches · 0 satellites in orbit

Products

Rockets and spacecraft

Name	Type	Status	First flight	Launches	To low orbit
Kosmos 11K63	Rocket	Retired	1966	126 (8 failed)	300 kg
Molniya 8K78	Rocket	Retired	1960	40 (20 failed)	1,900 kg
Kosmos-2I 63S1	Rocket	Retired	1961	38 (12 failed)	300 kg
Kosmos 65S3	Rocket	Retired	1964	8 (1 failed)	1,400 kg
Kosmos 11K65	Rocket	Retired	1966	4 (2 failed)	1,400 kg

Satellites in orbit

By platform

Strela-1 11F625	304
Strela-3	96
Uragan	70
Strela-2M	41
Raduga	30
Meteor-2	22
Meteor	17
Molniya-1	12

Recent launches

Date	Mission	Vehicle	Site	Result
30 Apr 2026	GMM	Soyuz-5	NIIP-5	Success
10 Mar 2018	2018-M05	Kinzhal	GTsP-4?	Success
2 Sep 2017	2017-M04	Iskander-M	ASHU	Success
2 Sep 2017	2017-M03	Iskander-M	ASHU	Success
18 Aug 2016	2016-M03	Iskander-M	EAO	Success
30 Oct 2013	2013-A23	Tochka-U	GTsP-4	Success
30 Oct 2013	2013-A22	Tochka-U	GTsP-4	Success
30 Oct 2013	2013-A21	Tochka-U	GTsP-4	Success
30 Oct 2013	2013-M06	Iskander-M	GTsP-4	Success
8 Aug 2008	S Ossetia war	Iskander-M	NOSSET?	Success
15 Oct 2003	10 BB	R-39U	BELA	Success
Dec 2002	10 BB	R-39U	BELA	Success

Provenance

Where this comes from

This entry merges 1 source: GCAT (J. McDowell)
Verification status: single source, not yet reviewed by a person. How we build and check this data.

Launch and satellite data: Jonathan McDowell's GCAT (CC BY 4.0) and CelesTrak. Rockets, spacecraft and agencies: Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs and Wikidata. News headlines link to their publishers via the Spaceflight News API and RSS feeds. Records come from several sources and are matched automatically, so treat the directory as a research aid, not an authority. How the data is built and checked.