Soviet-Era Spacecraft Returns to Earth After 53 Years in Orbit

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 analyses and the spacecraft’s absence on subsequent orbits. Additionally, the European Space Agency’s space debris office noted the spacecraft had reentered due to its failure to appear over a German radar station.

The exact location of reentry or the amount of the half-ton spacecraft that may have survived the fiery descent remains unknown. Experts had previously indicated that parts, if not all, could crash down, given its construction to endure 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 Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions destined for Venus. However, this craft never exited Earth’s orbit, remaining stuck due to 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).

After following the spacecraft’s downward spiral, scientists, military experts and others could not pinpoint in advance precisely when or where the spacecraft might come down. Solar activity added to the uncertainty as well as the spacecraft’s deteriorating condition after so long in space.

As of Saturday morning, the U.S. Space Command had yet to confirm the spacecraft’s demise as it collected and analyzed data from orbit.

The U.S. Space Command routinely monitors dozens of reentries each month. What set Kosmos 482 apart — and earned it extra attention from government and private space trackers — was that it was more likely to survive reentry, according to officials.

It was also coming in uncontrolled, without any intervention by flight controllers who normally target the Pacific and other vast expanses of water for old satellites and other space debris.

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