Soviet Spacecraft Crash Lands on Earth After a Journey of Half a Century

The New York Times ^ | May 10, 2025 | Updated 1:34 p.m. ET | Nadia Drake

[E. Pluribus Unum]

After looping through space for 53 years, a wayward Soviet spacecraft called Kosmos-482 returned to Earth, entering the dense layers of the planet’s atmosphere at 9:24 a.m. Moscow time on Saturday, according to Roscosmos, the Russian state corporation that runs the space program.

Designed to land on the surface of Venus, Kosmos-482 may have remained intact during its plunge. It splashed down in the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, Roscosmos said.

Kosmos-482 was launched on March 31, 1972, but became stranded in Earth’s orbit after one of its rocket boosters shut down prematurely. The spacecraft’s return to Earth was a reminder of the Cold War competition that prompted science fiction-like visions of Earthbound powers projecting themselves out into the solar system.

“It recalls a time when the Soviet Union was adventurous in space — when we were all maybe more adventurous in space,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks objects launched into orbit. “It’s a bit of a bittersweet moment in that sense.”

While America had won the race to the moon, the Soviet Union, through its Venera program, kept its sights on Venus, Earth’s twisted sister.

From 1961 to 1984, the Soviets launched 29 spacecraft toward the shrouded world next door. Many of those missions failed, but more than a dozen did not. The Venera spacecraft surveilled Venus from orbit, collected atmospheric observations while gently descending through its toxic clouds, scooped and studied soil samples and sent back the first, and only, pictures we have from the planet’s surface.

“Kosmos-482 is a reminder that, 50 years ago, the Soviet Union reached the planet Venus. Here is a physical artifact of that project, of that time,” said...

[Nateman]

The Venera program: Interplanetary probes from behind the Iron Curtain

The top image is actually a composite of photos taken of the surface of Venus. As you can discover from the Astronomy Magazine article the Soviet Union spent a lot of time and effort exploring Venus.

[subterfuge]

The redneck finally got the got! He has been a jerk for as long as he was here.

[subterfuge]

Got the ZOT!

[ansel12]

I think his flame war partners and fellow flame war, raging types, are not so happy about him being gone.

[mac_truck]

Good point! 😁

[x]

"Dead Like Me" was fun turn of the century series that started with space junk falling from the sky.

But shut up about it or the industry will try to remake or reboot it.

[markman46]

and that makes him a fool

[WoofDog123]

he is usually quite focused. this seems to be a one-off.

[Moleman]

That sounds very interesting!

[gnarledmaw]

I dont want to mislead you so just in case you decide to pop over...

Online they tend to make it look like a huge event, its actually rather small. If youre interested in art (it came down right in front of what is now the Rahr-West Museum), and watching costume contests in a beer garden you certainly could spend a day but otherwise you might want to plan something along with it for that weekend.

There are a couple of nearby art galleries and museums. A maritime museum with optional tours of a WWII sub and a memorial reflecting for each of those subs. Which came back, which didnt and a brief note about their activity or the way they were lost. There are a couple of more unusual things to see like a museum dedicated to the movable wood type press. Of course there are all the typical Great Lakes opportunities like you have including charter fishing and great beaches. If you drive over via the ferry from Ludington then Whistling Straights is just 20 or so miles away if golf is your kind of thing.

[Moleman]

Thank you!!