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Space
Space
Science
Mike Wall

Failed Soviet Venus lander Kosmos 482 crashes to Earth after 53 years in orbit

Astronomer Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project caught this image of Kosmos 482 during one of its last orbits as it passed over Rome, Italy on May 10, 2025. (Image credit: Gianluca Masi/The Virtual Telescope Project)

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. Reentry occurred 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. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.

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