Approved For Release 2000/08/08 dl~-R :,-00789ROO0400400002-2 Oviet Rocket 1 Falls to Earth 'In Canada 'Associated Press A Soviet rocket crashed in north e4s~ern Canada yesterday, lighting p, the sky from New Mexico to u 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 1 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 models. t's' not unusual for a rock6t 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'Ch yenne Mountain in C61- ere about 7,200 space ve- --Qrado, wk_ 'ac IdUU27qD a 'IV12ZISd 99ul 'U0.4 -SUOOJJVq d,~ Approved For Release 2000/08/08 CIA-RDP96-00789ROO0400400002-2 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789-ROO0400400002-2 SPA CE Lost Among the Stars A falling Soviet satellite raises global fears o help keep track of U.S. Navy vessels, the Soviet Union launched Cosmos 1900 last December. But in April the T spy satellite had become another piece of silent, celestial garbage: for unknown rea- sons, the Soviets lost radio contact with their craft. So, for about four months, Cos- mos 1900 has flown without guidance from its ground controllers, slowly slipping its orbit and sinking closer to Earth. Cosmos 1900 is due to re-enter the atmosphere sometime in the next eight weeks. On board is a nuclear reactor fired by 110 pounds of enriched uranium, enough ra- dioactive material to cause several hun- dred cases of cancer if it re-enters over a populated area. By all accounts, the odds favor an un- eventful return. Tass maintains that safety systems are on board the flight. And satel- lites typically burn upon re-entry. In all, nine nuclear-powered craft, both U.S. and Soviet, have failed to achieve orbit or other- Neither Bird Nol- he uncertain fate Of Cosmos T 19 'is- ' slowIv driftina out of control to a Earth's atmosphere, underscores the I I 1 3 . growing, threat from radioactive space debris. Total launches ~0()O (1 957~1 988) ' Still in orbit e 1,800 Decayed 2,000 ------ e Total nuclear launches* (1961-1988) .39, Sov Failure to orbit3 U.S., 2 S Re-entered 0 U.S., 4 S Still in orbit 9 U.S., 33 st. St. - iet oviet oviet Soviet biting trackable5A07 debris pieces 'AL'O INCLUDES PLANETARY AND LUNAR MISSIONS SOURC~S: NASA, COMMITTEE TO BRIDGETHE GAP wise re-entered the atmosphere. Despite the long odds against such a mishap, nucle- ar experts and civil-defense people around the globe are preparing for a nervous cou- ple of hours. Only 120 minutes before re- entry will scientists know precisely where the craft will impact. The uncertain fate of Cosmos 1900 has raised anew the question of why mankind is putting lethal material into the heavens. "All together these incidents present a pat- tern which suggests that this technology is unnecessarily dangerous," says Steven Af- tergood, director of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles-based pub- lie-interest group. Last May the Federation of American Scientists and the Committee of Soviet Scientists Against the Nuclear Threat jointly proposed a ban on orbiting nuclear reactors. To date the Soviet Union has launched more than 30 nuclear-powered Ra- 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 n and Mars. The last to the moo U.S. nuclear-powered space- craftwas launched in 1977. is not For the moment, space 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 LESLIEwith MARY HAGER illWashington Approved For Release 2000/08/08 CIA-RDPSB-E~076SROD04DO'4bbOO2-2';