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| A cover commemorating the launch of Kosmos 2, postmarked in Stanislav with a hand cancel on April 7, 1962, one day after the spacecraft’s launch. |
Kosmos 2, also designated 1MS No. 1 and sometimes referred to in Western sources as Sputnik 12, was a Soviet scientific and technology satellite launched on April 6, 1962. It was the second spacecraft to carry the Kosmos designation, following Kosmos 1, and the first of the Soviet 1MS satellite series. Developed by OKB-1, the spacecraft had a launch mass of approximately 285 kg. The 1MS series was designed to test new spacecraft systems and equipment while conducting scientific investigations of the near-Earth space environment, including studies of cosmic rays and radiation.
Kosmos 2's observations provided valuable data on the radiation environment surrounding Earth, contributing to Soviet research into conditions that spacecraft and future crewed missions would encounter. At the same time, the mission served as an engineering test platform for technologies intended for later scientific satellites. Kosmos 2 remained in orbit for more than a year before reentering Earth's atmosphere on August 20, 1963.
