Soviet-era spacecraft plunges back to Earth after 53 years stuck in orbit

A Soviet-era spacecraft that failed to launch to Venus more than 50 years ago plunged to Earth on Saturday.

The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking confirmed the spacecraft – known as Kosmos 482 – had an uncontrolled reentry based on analysis and no-shows on subsequent orbits.

The European Space Agency’s space debris office also indicated that Kosmos 482 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.

Kosmos 482 was launched by the then-Soviet Union in 1972 as 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).

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.