Old Decommissioned Soviet Spacecraft Kosmos 482 Plunges Into Indian Ocean After Failing To Reach Venus, and Spending More Than Half a Century in the Earth’s Orbit
After a 53-year-long space adventure, the decommissioned Soviet space probe Kosmos 482 probe came crashing down to Earth today, and plunged into the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia.
The reentry took place at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia’s space agency Roscosmos.
After much concern that the spacecraft could hit populated areas, it appears that Kosmos 482 fell ‘harmlessly’ into the sea.
Watch: Kosmos 482 seen in the skies over Peru.
Soviet Spacecraft Kosmos-482 Crashes in Pacific Ocean pic.twitter.com/hu53v7BUdq
— Black Hole (@konstructivizm) May 10, 2025
Space.com reported:
“Earth isn’t the planet that Kosmos 482 was supposed to land on. The spacecraft was part of the Soviet Union’s Venera program, which sent a fleet of probes to Venus in the 1960s, ’70s, and early ’80s.
Kosmos 482 launched toward Earth’s hellishly hot sister planet in 1972, but a problem with its rocket stranded the spacecraft in an elliptical orbit around Earth. For the next 53 years, atmospheric drag pulled the probe down slowly but surely, leading to today’s dramatic denouement.”
Usually, large chunks of space junk break apart in reentry, but Kosmos 482 may have made it down in one piece because it was designed to survive entering Venus’ dense atmosphere.
“Kosmos 482 is about 3.3 feet (1 meter) wide and weighs about 1,190 pounds (495 kilograms). If it didn’t break apart during reentry, it likely hit Earth’s surface going about 150 mph (240 kph), according to Dutch satellite tracker Marco Langbroek.
In that scenario, “the kinetic energy at impact is similar to that of a [16 to 22 inches] large meteorite fragment,” Langbroek wrote in a blog post recently.”
Watch: Kosmos 482 returns to Earth 53 years after failing to reach Venus.
In 1972, the Soviet Union launched the Kosmos 482 probe toward Venus. After 53 years, it’s now returning to Earth.
Credit: The One Space Guy YT pic.twitter.com/osgTNLIdMu
— Engaging Topics (@EngagingTopics) May 3, 2025
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