Kosmos 1261 was a US-K satellite like Kosmos 862 that self-destructed in orbit, NASA believe deliberately. The spacecraft attempted to maneuver
from its transfer orbit to an operational orbit 3 days after launch, but it appears that the maneuver was unsuccessful, and the
spacecraft never became ground track-stabilized. Immediately after the maneuver some debris was detected, while additional debris
were discovered in mid-May. There may have been more than one debris event. All of the resultant debris is still in orbit.[5]
Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).
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