Soviet-Era spacecraft crashes back to Earth after 53 years

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 verified 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 instantly known where the spacecraft came in or how much if any of the half-ton spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit Experts noted ahead of time that various 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 SPACE FORCE'S MYSTERIOUS X- B PLANE RETURNS TO EARTH AFTER DAYS IN ORBITThe chances of anyone getting clobbered by spacecraft debris were exceedingly low scientists noted Launched in by the Soviet Union the spacecraft known as Kosmos 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 feet 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 pounds 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 MASSIVE EUROPEAN POWER OUTAGE BLAMED ON SOLAR PLANT BREAKDOWNSSolar 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 input from orbit The U S Space Command routinely monitors dozens of reentries each month What set Kosmos apart and earned it extra attention from regime and private space trackers was that it was more likely to survive reentry according to bureaucrats 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