Orlets-1 or Don (

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of ...

index 17F12) was a Russian (previously

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

)

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

.NSSDC Master Catalog
Cosmos 2290
/ref>Gunter's Space Page

/ref> Orlets-1 was developed after the Yantar-2K satellite was deemed incapable of providing strategic warning of attack. It drew on features of an existing draft project called Yantar-6K. Equipped with a wide-spectrum panoramic camera and carrying eight film return capsules, Orlets-1 had a design life of 60 days. After completing its mission, the satellite was detonated in its orbit. The

Soyuz-U Soyuz-U ( GRAU index: 11A511U) was a Soviet and later Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed by the TsSKB design bureau and constructed at the Progress factory in Samara, Russia. The ''U'' designation stands for ''unified' ...

or Soyuz-U2 launch vehicle was used to deploy Orlets-1. An improved version, Orlets-2, was also created.

References

* ''This article incorporates text from
NSSDC Master Catalog
', a publication in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

.'' Reconnaissance satellites of the Soviet Union Reconnaissance satellites of Russia {{USSR-spacecraft-stub