The Kosmos (also spelled Cosmos, Russian: Ко́смос) rockets were a series of Soviet and subsequently Russian rockets, derived from the R-12 and R-14 missiles,[1][2][3][4] the best known of which is the Kosmos-3M, which has made over 440 launches. The Kosmos family contained a number of rockets, both carrier rockets and sounding rockets, for orbital and sub-orbital spaceflight respectively. The first variant, the Kosmos, first flew on 27 October 1961. Over 700 Kosmos rockets have been launched overall.