In late March 1972, the Soviet Union's Cosmos 482 was launched. But that attempted Venus probe ran amuck during its rocket-assisted toss to the cloud-veiled world. Major elements of that failed craft remained in Earth orbit.
The upper stage of the Soyuz booster launching that Venus probe cut off prematurely, leaving the payload marooned in Earth orbit. But there is new news for this old probe: "In about two weeks from now, on or near May 9-10, an unusual uncontrolled reentry will happen." That's the report from satellite watcher Marco Langbroek of the Netherlands. He has been taking telescopic looks at the errant, Earth-circling Cosmos 482 remains for numbers of years.
