Russian Satellite Crashed Into 'Cosmonaut Street'

(NewsCore) - A piece of a Russian satellite that came crashing back to earth in Siberia after a failed launch smashed into a house located on "Cosmonaut Street," the Interfax news agency reported Saturday.

The Meridian-series communication satellite was launched aboard a Soyuz-2 carrier rocket Friday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome based at Arkhangelsk in northern Russia. The satellite, which was designed to provide communication between ships, planes and coastal stations on the ground, failed to reach orbit and crashed in the Novosibirsk region.

"A sphere was found, around 50 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter, which crashed into the roof of a house in the village of Vagaitsevo" in the Ordynsk district, an official in the local security services told Interfax.

Ironically, the house was located on "Cosmonaut Street," named after the heroic spacemen of the Soviet and Russian space program, the official said.

The incident capped a difficult year for Russia's space program. In November, Russia lost contact with its unmanned Phobos-Grunt spacecraft shortly after it blasted off on a mission to bring back rock and soil samples from Mars.