After 53 years in orbit, Soviet-era spacecraft makes plunge back to Earth

A Soviet-era spacecraft made a dramatic reentry into Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday, more than fifty years after its ill-fated launch toward Venus. The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking confirmed the spacecraft's uncontrolled reentry, based on orbital analyses and its absence from radar readings. The European Space Agency's space debris office noted that the spacecraft lost contact after failing to appear on a German radar screen. At this time, it’s unclear where exactly the spacecraft came down or if any remnants of the half-ton vehicle survived the fiery descent through the atmosphere.

Science