Approved For Release 2000/08/08
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Soviet Rocket
Falls to Earth
In Canada
Associated Press
A Soviet rocket crashed in north-
eastern Canada yesterday, lighting
up
the
sky from New Mexico
to
Michigan as it fell out of orbit, a De-
fense Department spokesman said.
No
injuries
or damage were
re-
ported.
The
craft, which plummeted
to
Earth at about
a.m. EDT, was
launched by the Soviets on Aug. 18
to carry a Gorizont communications
satellite
into
orbit,
according
to
|
Maj, Alex Mondragon, spokesman
|
;
for the North American Aerospace
Defense Command
and
the
U.S,
Space Command, speaking from Pe-
terson Air Force Base near Color-
ado Springs.
He said the rocket was probably
an SL12, one of the Soviets’ work-
ahorse models.
-mbit's
not
unusual
for
a
rocket
body not to stay in orbit,” he said.
“There’s nothing to keep it there."
The craft was tracked by officials
at the U.S. Space Surveillance Cen-
ter at Cheyenne Mountain
in Col-
orado, where about 7,200 space ve-
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Approved For Release 2000/08/08
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Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R000400400002-2
SPACE
Lost Among the Stars
A falling Soviet satellite raises global fears
T
o help keep track of U.S. Navy vessels,
wise re-entered the atmosphere. Despite
the Soviet Union launched Cosmos
the long odds against such a mishap, nucle-
1900 last December. But in April the
ar experts and civil-defense people around
spy satellite had become another piece of
the globe are preparing for a nervous cou-
silent, celestial garbage: for unknown rea-
pie of hours. Only 120 minutes before re-
sons, the Soviets
lost radio contact with
entry will scientists know precisely where
their craft. So, for about four months, Cos-
the craft will impact,
mos 1900 has flown without guidance from
The uncertain fate of Cosmos 1900 has
its ground controllers, slowly slipping its
raised anew the question of why mankind
orbit and sinking closer to Earth. Cosmos
is putting lethal material into the heavens.
1900
is due
to re-enter the atmosphere
"All together these incidents present a pat-
sometime
in
the next
eight weeks. On
tern which suggests that this technology is
board
is a nuclear reactor
fired by 110
unnecessarily dangerous,” says Steven Af-
pounds of enriched uranium, enough ra-
tergood,
director
of the Committee
to
dioactive material to cause several hun-
Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles-based pub-
dred cases of cancer if it re-enters over a
lie-interest group. Last May the Federation
populated area.
of American Scientists and the Committee
By all accounts, the odds favor an un-
of Soviet Scientists Against the Nuclear
eventful return. Tass maintains that safety
Threat jointly proposed a ban on orbiting
systems are on board the flight. And satel-
nuclear reactors.
lites typically burn upon re-entry. In all,
To date the Soviet Union has launched
nine nuclear-powered craft, both U.S. and
more
than
nuclear-powered
Ra-
Soviet, have failed to achieve orbit or other-
dar
Ocean
Reconnaissance
Satellites
(RORSAT’s).
The
RORSAT’s
are placed in a relatively low
orbit, about 150 miles up, which
makes them vulnerable to re-
entry. When a satellite’s useful
life ends, ground control is sup-
posed to direct it into a higher,
safer orbit, where it can circle
the globe for hundreds of years
while its radioactivity decays.
The United States also has
used nuclear power in space, re-
lying mainly on radioisotopes to
provide the electricity aboard
23 spacecraft including flights
to the moon and Mars. The last
U.S.
nuclear-powered
space-
craftwas launched in 1977.
For the moment, space is not
likely to become a nuclear-free
zone. The Soviets have shown
no sign of redesigning their spy
satellites. And since 1983 the
United States has been devel-
oping plans for the next gener-
ation of nuclear-fueled space-
craft. Among other things, the
Strategic
Defense
Initiative
relies
on
nuclear
power.
If
a
disaster
happens,
to
para-
phrase the poet, the fault will
lie not in the stars but with
ourselves.
Connie Leslie with
Mary Hager in Washington
I
Neither Bird Nor Plane
he uncertain fate of Cosmos 1900, which is
slowly drifting out of control toward the
Earth’s atmosphere, underscores the growing
threat from radioactive space debris.
Total launches
( 1 957 -1988 )
Still in orbit
Decayed
Total nuclear launches*
( 1961 -1988 )
Failure to orbit
Re-entered
Still in orbit
3.800 est.
1 .800 est.
2,000 est.
23 U.S.,
39 Soviet
3 U.S., 2 Soviet
O U.S., 4 Soviet
9 U.S., 33 Soviet
Orbiting trackable debris
5,407 pieces
ALSO INCLUDES PLANETARY AND LUNAR MISSIONS.
SOURCES: NASA, COMMITTEE TO BRIDGE TIIE GAP
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
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