A series of Soviet/Russian liquid-fuelled two-stage rockets (Kosmos 1–3) using an intermediate range ballistic missile as its first stage. The rockets stand 31.5–32.4 m tall, have a diameter of 2.4 m, and can carry a payload of 1 500 kg into low Earth orbit and a 775-kg payload in Sun-synchronous orbit. The first launch (Kosmos 21) occurred on 27 October 1961 and subsequent launches now total more than 700, with the Kosmos-3M rocket being used for 446 of them between 1967 and 2010, with 22 failures. The rocket was retired in 2010.