A 1970s Soviet Spacecraft Is About to Fall Back to Earth
Venera 8 was one of a pair of Venus atmospheric lander probes designed for the spring 1972 launch window. The other mission, Kosmos 482, failed to leave Earth's orbit.A Soviet spacecraft launched in 1972 is falling back to Earth after 53 years. It is expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere early Saturday morning, but exactly where is unclear.
The spacecraft, Kosmos 482, was meant to travel to Venus, but malfunctioned shortly after liftoff and entered an elliptical orbit around Earth, where its intact landing vehicle has remained. The lander is only 3 feet in diameter, but contains a heat shield that could help it survive a plunge to Earth.
'This was built to be rugged and withstand Venus's atmosphere,' said Cathleen Lewis, curator of international space programs and spacesuits at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.
Ground-based satellite dishes have been tracking the object for months, but pinpointing the exact location of its re-entry is difficult. This week, various estimates from the U.S. Space Force placed the object over the Gulf of Oman, northeast Africa and Borneo, locations that are thousands of miles apart.
The growing amount of orbiting space debris is a concern. More than 54,000 objects greater than 4 inches are orbiting Earth, while more than 1,200 re-entered the atmosphere in 2024, according to a March 31 report by the European Space Agency.
Most of these objects burn up in the atmosphere, but larger items sometimes hit the ground. In 2024, a 4-inch long piece of the International Space Station tore through the roof of a Florida family's home. The same year, a 3-foot diameter chunk of material from a SpaceX capsule landed harmlessly on a remote trail near a campground near Asheville, N.C.
The U.S. Space Force doesn't predict whether falling objects will hit the ground or burn up, according to Ladonna Davis, a Space Force spokeswoman for the agency.
Kosmos 482 was part of a pair of ships launched to Venus in March 1972. Venera 8 launched four days earlier and landed successfully on Venus. Lewis said the former Soviet Union's space agency often launched identical pairs of spacecraft in case one failed.
Kosmos 482 broke apart before leaving Earth's gravitational pull. Dutch astronomer Ralf Vandebergh said he has been tracking the object since 2010. Most of the pieces of the spacecraft, he said, including its booster rocket, have already fallen back to Earth.
Images taken in 2024 show an elongated object attached to the spacecraft's lander, raising speculation that it could be a dangling parachute originally designed to slow the descent in the Venusian atmosphere, Vandebergh said. If it is a parachute, that could slow its descent to Earth, he said.
Lewis, a historian of the Soviet space program, said she is curious about Kosmos 482 and its condition.
'I want to know what does come down and who retrieves it,' she said. 'Russia has the right to claim anything that they launch.'
Write to Eric Niiler at eric.niiler@wsj.com
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