A Soviet spacecraft could crash into Earth in an uncontrolled manner today: "It was detected by radar systems over Germany."

In 1972, on March 31st, the Molniya-M rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Russia, intending to launch the Cosmos 482 probe to Venus. Unfortunately, a programming error prevented the craft from leaving Earth's orbit. From that moment on, the Russian probe remained in orbit around our planet. Until now, 53 years later, experts have warned of its impact with Earth in the coming hours.

An accident is imminent, and a 495-kilogram craft is hurtling toward Earth in an uncontrolled manner . Most spacecraft launched from our planet and rendered obsolete eventually return to Earth, but due to the high temperatures of re-entry into the atmosphere, they disintegrate, rendering the small surviving fragments barely harmful and often falling into the oceans.

As NASA scientists and experts explain, the Cosmos 482 spacecraft separated into four components; two remained in orbit only to fall back 48 hours later, and the other two, believed to be the lander and a detached upper section, rose into a higher orbit. It is precisely these latter components that threaten to crash into our planet in an uncontrolled and slightly disconcerting manner.

Although the exact time the spacecraft will re-enter the atmosphere is unknown, the European Space Agency's Space Debris Office estimated 8:26 a.m. Spanish time on Saturday, May 10, as the date and time this probe could impact Earth. This is always taking into account a margin of error of approximately 4.35 hours.

The European Space Agency's Space Debris Office has announced that "the spacecraft will now land at a point between 52° North and 52° South of the equator. As the re-entry date approaches, predictions will be refined in the updates below (most recent shown first)."

"The descent craft was detected by radar systems over Germany at approximately 04:30 UTC and 06:04 UTC, corresponding to 06:30 CEST and 08:04 CEST, respectively. There is no further information on the estimated reentry window, as we are approximately in the center, corresponding to the red COIW (center of impact window) dot on the ground track graphic below." updated just a few minutes ago.