Doomed Soviet spacecraft tumbling toward Earth may already have its parachute out, new images hint

An illustration of a burning satellite hurdling back into Earth's atmosphere.

A doomed 53-year-old Soviet lander currently tumbling back to Earth could be trailing a parachute, new images of the spacecraft reveal.

The Kosmos 482 probe, which launched in 1972, was built to land on Venus as part of the former U.S.S.R.'s Venera program. But a malfunction in the rocket it was mounted on caused the spacecraft to split in two, with the main body crashing back to Earth in 1981 and the lander section remaining trapped in orbit ever since.