Soviet Venus probe launched in 1972 could smash into the Earth on May 10

The 1100 lb probe had a malfunction after launch and got stuck in a really long orbit around the earth.

After all these years that orbit has decayed to where it's going to re-enter the atmosphere.

Since it was made to survive re-entry into Venus' atmosphere, it might survive Earth's this time and make it to the ground or water.

At this point there are too many unknows with it's path and how it will interact with the atmosphere to predict where it will land.

It does have a parachute but will probably be going too fast for it to work if it is even deployed as the batteries to trigger the chute are old.

So if you hear a big thud in your backyard next month, maybe it's a vintage commie space souvenir.