Sputnik 19 was a
Venera-type spacecraft intended to make a landing on
Venus. The SL-6/A-2-e launcher put the spacecraft into
Earth orbit, but the escape stage failed and the probe remained in
geocentric orbit[?] for three days until the orbit decayed on
August 28 and it re-entered Earth's atmosphere.
US Naval Space Command Satellite Situation Summary[?] identified this vechile as Sputnik 23. It is also known as Alpha Pi 1.