A failed Soviet-era spacecraft that became trapped in Earth’s orbit by mistake more than 50 years ago is expected to crash back down onto the planet in a matter of days, according to space experts.
Cosmos 482 was launched in 1972 as part of the Soviet Union’s Venera program, which intended to explore Venus, according to NASA.
The unmanned spacecraft experienced a successful initial launch on March 31, 1972, and temporarily orbited Earth.
However, it did not achieve sufficient velocity to launch into a Venus transfer trajectory, NASA said, and the payload — or the portion of the craft significantly related to the craft’s primary mission — was unable to exit Earth’s orbit.
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Astronomers hypothesize that a malfunction on a timer caused the engine to burn prematurely, NASA said.
The spacecraft then broke into four pieces. Two of the pieces, which remained in low orbit, decayed within 48 hours. Orbital decay refers to an incremental decrease in altitude, gradually closing a craft’s distance to Earth, according to NASA.
The other two pieces — including the large lander probe — became stuck in Earth’s higher orbit. It has experienced orbital decay for decades, NASA said, and that decay has brought it close enough to reenter the planet’s atmosphere around May 10.
Because the probe was designed to withstand entry into Venus’ atmosphere — which is 90 times denser than Earth’s — it is possible that parts of it could survive reentry and continue onward to the planet’s surface, according to NASA.
The risk of Cosmos 482 striking people on the ground is low — but not impossible, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, wrote on his website last month.
“No need for major concern, but you wouldn’t want it bashing you on the head,” McDowell wrote.
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The lander probe is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere between Friday and Sunday, NASA said. The craft is about 3.2 feet across and weighs about 1,100 pounds.
As of Tuesday, the landing location was estimated to be anywhere between 52 N and 52 S latitude. This large swath contains the United States, as well as most of the continents on Earth.
The time and location of a return to Earth will likely be predicted more accurately as reentry nears, according to NASA.
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Astronomers are increasingly monitoring space junk left near Earth during launches of satellites and other spacecraft. There are currently more than 1.2 million known pieces of space debris, 50,000 of which measure more than 4 inches across, according to a 2025 report by the European Space Agency.
“Even if we created no new space debris, it would not be enough to prevent a runaway series of collisions and fragmentations,” the ESA said in a statement.
Failed Soviet-era spacecraft expected to crash back to Earth within days originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
