Soviet-Era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth After 53 Years Stuck in Orbit – IOTW Report

Soviet-Era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth After 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

Saturday, 10 May 2025, 15:35 BFH Uncategorized 13

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(AP) — A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.

The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking confirmed its uncontrolled reentry, based on analysis and no-shows of the spacecraft on subsequent orbits. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also indicated that the spacecraft had reentered after it failed to appear over a German radar station.

It was not immediately known where the spacecraft came in or how much, if any, of the half-ton spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time that some if not all of it might come crashing down, given it was built to withstand a landing on Venus, the solar system’s hottest planet.

The chances of anyone getting clobbered by spacecraft debris were exceedingly low, scientists said.

Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a rocket malfunction.

Much of the spacecraft came tumbling back to Earth within a decade of the failed launch. No longer able to resist gravity’s tug as its orbit dwindled, the spherical lander – an estimated 3 feet (1 meter) across – was the last part of the spacecraft to come down. The lander was encased in titanium, according to experts, and weighed more than 1,000 pounds (495 kilograms). more

13 Comments on Soviet-Era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth After 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

  10. “I saw a lot of Chicken Little reports on this.”

    Yep. The sciency Journos all said it was a planetary menace whose path to destruction passed over the most populous places on earth. Now they can’t find the thing. I wonder what the noted astrophysicist Neal de Grasse Tyson had to say.

    Well, no, I’m not really wondering. Couldn’t give a tinker’s damn, actually.

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