Kosmos 954: The Soviet Nuclear Spaceship Disaster

History Revealed

In 1978 a Soviet reconnaissance satellite, Kosmos 965 met a dramatic end. Re-entering Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled fashion, it spun out of control and crashed at enormous speeds into Northwest Canada.

At the best of times this would have been less than ideal. This was at the height of the Cold War, however, and the Kosmos was no normal satellite.

It was nuclear-powered and carried a hefty uranium power cell. When it crashed it spread this nuclear material across Canada, leading to fallout and raising questions about the safety of nuclear-powered spacecraft.

Even more shockingly, Kosmos wasn’t the first or last nuclear-powered satellite to crash. But it is the most famous, and this is its story.

The Sky Is Falling

The Kosmos 954 was a Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite, or RORSAT for short. The RORSAT program was a series of satellites designed for maritime surveillance during the Cold War. Equipped with powerful radar systems, these satellites could monitor ship movements and maritime activities across vast expanses of the earth’s oceans.

Kos mos 954 contained an on-board nuclear reactor (NNSA US DOE / Public Domain)