| Kosmos 818 | |
| Mission Type: | ABM radar target |
| Cospar Id: | 1976-044A |
| Spacecraft Type: | DS-P1-Yu |
| Manufacturer: | Yuzhnoye |
| Launch Date: | UTC |
| Launch Rocket: | Kosmos-2I 63SM |
| Launch Site: | Plesetsk 133/1 |
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric |
| Orbit Regime: | Low Earth |
| Orbit Inclination: | 71 degrees |
| Orbit Period: | 91.9 minutes |
| Apsis: | gee |
Kosmos 818 (ru|Космос 818 meaning Cosmos 818), also known as DS-P1-Yu No.78, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1976 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 400kg (900lb) spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.[1]
A Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket was used to launch Kosmos 818 from Site 133/1 of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.[2] The launch occurred at 11:00 UTC on 18 May 1976, and resulted in the successfully insertion of the satellite into low Earth orbit.[3] Upon reaching orbit, the satellite was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1976-044A.[4] The North American Aerospace Defense Command assigned it the catalogue number 08851.
Kosmos 818 was the seventy-eighth and penultimate DS-P1-Yu satellite to be launched,[1] and the seventy-first to successfully reach orbit.[5] It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of, an apogee of, 71 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.9 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 7 March 1977.[6]