US says Soviet satellite may begin plunge Sunday

The Pentagon said Thursday it expected the Cosmos 1402 nuclear-powered Soviet reconnaissance satellite to begin its plunge to Earth Sunday or Monday. There was only a 3 percent likelihood the dead vehicle would hit Canada and an ever slimmer possibility it would crash in the United States, Pentagon spokesman Henry Catto told reporters. The assessment of US space trackers, he said, is that there is a 70 percent chance Cosmos 1402 will land in the ocean.