Cosmos 573 is the codename for an unmanned flight of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, which carried out 1973 tests in Earth orbit in the summer. It was common in the Soviet Union to give only successful missions an official name. Failed flights were mostly not announced and test flights only under the general cover name cosmos.
The launch took place on June 15, 1973 at 6 UTC clock from Soviet Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz rocket. In general, the entire systems were tested, which were improved after the Soyuz 11 disaster. In contrast to the first test flight with Cosmos 496 this spaceship was not equipped with solar cells. The landing took place on 17 June 1973, 06:01 UTC.