Part of a spacecraft that launched in 1972 and has been orbiting Earth for 53 years is due to reenter Earth’s atmosphere in the next two weeks and could crash to the ground intact, scientists say. The 1,

A piece of a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1972 is expected to crash back down to Earth very soon, experts say. The part, which is from the Cosmos 482 probe, was meant to land on the planet Venus. While it made it into space successfully, the spacecraft wasn't able to complete its journey after something went wrong.

Kosmos 482 —originally launched on March 31, 1972, as part of the Soviet Union's ambitious Venera program to explore Venus—is expected to make a crash landing on Earth around May 9–10, 2025. Due to a rocket malfunction shortly after launch, the spacecraft never made it out of Earth's orbit.