Kosmos 482 Reenters After Decades Orbiting Our Planet

Back in 1973, we had something called Skylab in orbit around Earth. It was revolutionary, it was an opportunity for humans to live in orbit and do research. The life of Skylab was short; it finally fell out of orbit in 1979 and spread itself across the Indian Ocean. Skylab weighed approximately 199,750 lbs. (That's a lot of space junk.) 

It was the first time that something that massive fell out of orbit into the atmosphere and to the Earth. People were more than a little freaked out. At least one person was fascinated by the whole thing and wrote a song about it. ELO “don't bring me down”. (Well, he said that was the inspiration anyway.) 

That brings us to this week when a large piece of Russian space junk decided to fall out of the sky after 53 years in orbit. Kosmos 482.  

According to msn.com,
‘The spacecraft’s descent was confirmed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and other experts, though the exact location remains uncertain. This event marks the end of the spacecraft’s 53-year journey through space, which started as a failed mission but became a significant historical anomaly in space exploration.’ 

The Soviet Union had big ambitions, they wanted to study Venus. It was launched in 1972, and the original plan was for it to actually land on the planet. Unfortunately, it never made it out of Earth orbit and until earlier this week had stayed there. 

Keep in mind that this spacecraft was designed to sustain the heat and pressures of landing on Venus, so scientists were speculating whether or not it would actually survive reentry. If it did, we would probably never know. 

One thing we do know for certain, it did not land in Washington state. 

One less thing to worry about during wildfire season.
Out-of-control Kosmos 482 Spacecraft Likely Fell To Earth After 53 Years In Orbit
A Forgotten Soviet Probe Sent to Venus 52 Years Ago Is About to Fall Back to Earth
European Space Agency