Failed Soviet Spacecraft Is Due to Crash Back to Earth This Week, 53 Years After Launch

Kosmos 482 is a Soviet space probe that’s been circling Earth for 53 years. It was initially tasked with exploring Venus, but the mission was a failure, and it’s been stuck in the Earth’s orbit ever since. Now, this Cold War relic is hurtling back home in a fiery blaze, and nobody has any idea where it’s going to land.

Launched on March 31, 1972, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (back when Kazakhstan was still a part of the USSR), Kosmos 482 was supposed to be a bold step toward exploring Venus. Instead, it became space junk after a malfunction in the upper-stage rocket left it in a weird elliptical orbit instead of sending it toward Venus.

Two days later, parts of it rained down over New Zealand. But the bigger bits, like a lander designed to survive Venus’ hellish atmosphere and a carrier bus, kept orbiting. For over five decades, it’s been silently looping the Earth, and now it’s coming back home.

The planet’s gravitational pull is finally reeling it back in. Between May 8 and 12, Kosmos 482 is expected to slam into Earth. Astrophotographer Ralf Vandebergh even spotted what might be a parachute flapping uselessly in space.

#Cosmos482 Note about the parachute possibility. Although still speculation as mentioned before, technically the images are correct. There are no tracking issues, scope issues and I not expect a similar atmosperic effect in images taken 10 years apart, if that would be the case. pic.twitter.com/DiCMzqNY0Z

— Ralf Vandebergh (@ralfvandebergh) May 6, 2025

A 53-Year-Old Soviet Spacecraft Is Crashing To Earth, We Just Don’t Know Where

Experts say the spacecraft could reenter anywhere between 52°N and 52°S latitude. That covers such an enormous swath of the world that it’s almost useless. So let’s just put it this way: if you live on the planet Earth, you might get hit by a half-century-old failed Soviet spacecraft.

What happens to the craft once it enters the Earth’s atmosphere is also anyone’s guess. It might explode into a shower of debris, or, since it was built to withstand Venus’ harsh atmosphere, it could survive a 150-mile-an-hour impact to the Earth’s surface, according to a satellite tracker based in the Netherlands named Marco Langbroek.

Thankfully, the odds right now have it harmlessly plopping into the ocean.