A failed Soviet Venus lander's long space odyssey has come to an end. The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades.

The ESA Space Debris Office is closely following the reentry of the Cosmos (Kosmos) 482 Venus descent craft and currently expects the object to reenter Earth's atmosphere at 09:12 CEST on 10 May ...

The Soviets launched Kosmos 482 in 1972, intending to send it to Venus to join other spacecraft in their Venera programme. But a rocket malfunction left this one stuck in orbit around Earth.

Kosmos 482 was built as a sister probe to Venera 8. However, due to a malfunction with the Soyuz rocket that launched it into space, the probe failed to achieve enough velocity to reach Venus ...

Kosmos 482, a Soviet-era spacecraft, plunged to Earth more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.

Kosmos 482, a Soviet-era spacecraft, plunged to Earth more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.

Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a ...