Space pin made in the Soviet Union about Molniya-1. The Molniya (“Lightning”) series satellites were military and communications satellites launched by the Soviet Union from 1965 to 2004. These satellites used highly eccentric elliptical orbits known as Molniya orbits, which have a long dwell time over high latitudes. They are suited for communications purposes in polar regions. There were 164 Molniya satellites launched.
The Molniya programme was authorized on 30 October 1961. The first launch took place on 4 June 1964 and ended in failure. The next attempt was on 22 August 1964 and reached orbit successfully, but the parabolic communications antennas did not properly deploy. The first operational satellite, Molniya 1-1, was successfully launched on 23 April 1965. By 30 May 1966, the third Molniya 1 had taken the first images of the whole Earth in history.