New Update: Spacecraft Crashes Into Earth After Over 5 Decades In Orbit

A spacecraft launched more than 50 years ago has crashed into Earth.

Inset: An image of Verna 4, a similar spacecraft to Kosmos 482.
Photo Credit: *AccuWeather/NASA*

05/11/2025 7:00 p.m.

The defunct probe from the former Soviet Union, known as Kosmos 482, was launched in 1972 on a mission to explore Venus.

A launch failure left it trapped in Earth’s orbit — where it has remained for more than half a century.

It finally went down over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia Saturday morning, May 10, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos.

Due to a malfunction of the booster block after launch in 1972, it remained in a high elliptical orbit of the Earth, gradually approaching the planet.

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