Kosmos 24 (Russian: Космос 24 meaning Cosmos 24) or Zenit-2 No.15 was a Soviet optical film-return reconnaissance satellite. It was a first generation, low resolution spacecraft. A Zenit-2 satellite, Kosmos 24 was the fifteenth of eighty-one such spacecraft to be launched[3][4] and had a mass of 4,730 kilograms (10,430 lb).
Kosmos 24 was operated in a low Earth orbit. On 19 December 1963, it had a perigee of 204 kilometres (127 mi), an apogee of 391 kilometres (243 mi), with inclination of 65.0° and an orbital period of 90.5 minutes.[7] Having spent nine days in orbit, the spacecraft was deorbited on 28 December 1963. Its return capsule descended under parachute for recovery by Soviet forces.
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).
