A Soviet-era spacecraft, which had been stranded in Earth’s orbit for 53 years, has finally re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, failing to reach its destination of Venus. The spacecraft, named Cosmos 482, was launched more than half a century ago but got stuck in orbit after its mission failed to leave Earth’s gravitational pull.
According to foreign media reports, Russian space authorities and the European Union’s space monitoring and tracking system confirmed the spacecraft’s fall. Russian officials stated that the spacecraft landed over the Indian Ocean, though some experts remain skeptical about the exact location of its crash.
The European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office also tracked the spacecraft’s exit when it was no longer detected by a radar station in Germany. It is still unclear how much of the spacecraft survived its fall to Earth.
Experts had predicted that the spacecraft might have been entirely destroyed, given that it was originally designed to land on Venus, the hottest planet in our solar system.
Scientists have assured that the chances of any human being struck by debris are minimal. The Cosmos 482 spacecraft was launched in 1972 under the Soviet Union’s space program. It was part of a series of missions aimed at reaching Venus but failed to break free from Earth’s orbit due to a malfunctioning rocket, resulting in its prolonged stay in space.
