50-Year-Old Soviet Spacecraft Falling to Earth
A dormant Soviet-era Venus probe known as Kosmos 482 is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere after more than five decades in orbit. Launched in 1972, it never reached Venus and has circled our planet as space junk ever since.
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Key Entities
- • Kosmos 482 – A Soviet probe launched in 1972 to study Venus, stranded in Earth orbit due to a launch malfunction.
- • Venera program – The USSR’s sequence of Venus exploration missions, some successful, others plagued by failures.
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