Cold War era Soviet spaceship destined for Venus to FINALLY crash back to Earth at 17,000mph… and could hit UK
Kosmos 482 took off in 1972, but a failed launch left the spaceship circling lifelessly above us – until now.
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Marco Langbroek, a satellite tracker based in the Netherlands, has predicted that the spacecraft will strike the Earth on May 10.
And according to the satellite watcher it's set to hit hard and fast, at a staggering speed of 17,000mph.
The Venus probe was originally built with a parachute but Langbroek warned that it would be unlikely to still work.
He added: "With a mass of just under 500 kg and 1-meter size, risks are similar to that of a meteorite impact."
Kosmos 482 is expected to fall anywhere between latitude 52 degrees north and 52 degrees south - putting London in immediate danger.
Also in the red-zone are Australia, South America, and Africa, as well as parts of Europe, North America and Asia.
But while the UK is at risk, experts have said the spacecraft is most likely that the spaceship will land in the ocean.
The Kosmos 482 was previously feared to hit the Earth back in 2019.
Video footage from October 2020 shows the failed spaceship plummeting out of orbit.
The startling footage shows the out-of-control craft hurtling through the sky - headed for Earth.
Watch moment crashing Chinese spaceship streaks through skies over US & breaks apart in storm of falling fireballs
We've known that Kosmos 482 would fall to Earth for years – after a disastrous launch during the Cold War space race left the space junk floating.
Soviet space missions typically involved putting spacecraft into an Earth "parking orbit".
The craft acted as a launch platform in space - complete with a rocket engine and probe.
The probe would be launched towards its target – but if unsuccessful, it would be left in orbit and re-branded as a "Kosmos" craft.
Kosmos 482 was launched by a Soviet Molniya booster on March 31, 1972, as part of a mission to Venus.
The craft successfully made it into an Earth parking orbit, but Soviet scientists failed to launch the probe into its Venus trajectory causing it to break into four pieces.
Two of these chunks remained in a low-Earth orbit and fell onto New Zealand within two days.
A NASA report at the time said: "The Blok L escape stage's main engine prematurely cut off after only 125 seconds of firing due to a failure in the onboard timer.
"As a result, the spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit around Earth.
"Officially, the Soviets named the probe Kosmos 482 to disguise its true mission."
What was Kosmos 482?
By Lydia Doye
KOSMOS 482 launched by a Soviet Molniya booster on March 31, 1972, as part of a mission to Venus.
The craft successfully made it into an Earth parking orbit, but Soviet scientists failed to launch the probe into its Venus trajectory causing it to break into four pieces.
Two of these chunks remained in a low-Earth orbit and fell onto New Zealand within two days.
The remainder of the craft is now expected to hurtle into the Earth in May at a staggering speed of 17,000mph.
On the morning of April 3, 1972, four titanium alloy balls that weighed around 30lbs fell within a 10 mile area outside of Ashburton, New Zealand.
The balls – which measured around 15 inches across – scorched holes in crops and left deep indentations, though no one was hurt.
According to international space law, the junk was supposed to be returned to its home nation.
But Soviet top brass denied all knowledge of the origins of the junk, so the farmer who owned the land where the balls fell kept them instead.
Two other pieces from Kosmos 482 went into a higher orbit - and are now expected to fall.
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