A Soviet space probe stuck in orbit since a failed 1972 launch is expected to crash to Earth this month.
The spacecraft, dubbed Kosmos 482, is predicted to reenter Earth’s atmosphere on May 12, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Space Force. A different calculation by satellite analyst Marco Langbroek at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands predicts reentry on May 10.
The exact landing site won’t be known until shortly before impact. But it’s unlikely the probe will hurt anyone or even land in a populated area, says astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. “It is alarming, but not end-of-the-world alarming.”