Soviet era spacecraft crashes into the Indian Ocean. Cosmic Junk returns to earth after five decades

A Soviet-era spacecraft, which should now belong to Russia, has finally returned to Earth.

The ​historical spacecraft which was launched in 1972, managed to re-enter the earth 53 years after it was propelled into the airspace.

Known as Kosmos 482, the Venus lander was launched by the former Soviet Union in 1972.

Kosmos 482 re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on May 10, 2025, and while most people thought it may cause damage, the craft managed to crash into the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia.

Originally intended to study Venus, the Kosmos spacecraft was stranded in Earth orbit due to a rocket malfunction shortly after launch, remaining stuck there for over five decades.

Designed to survive the extreme heat and pressure of Venus’s atmosphere, the 1,190-pound probe may have survived re-entry largely intact – a rarity for falling space hardware.

Astronomers captured images of the spacecraft during one of its final orbits just before dawn.

The event draws renewed attention by environmentalists regarding the problem of growing space debris piling up on the earth surface.

According to the European Space Agency, roughly three large pieces of space junk re-enter Earth’s atmosphere every day and that number is expected to rise as satellite mega constellations expand.

Though USSR’s Kosmos 482’s re-entry caused no known damage, it’s a reminder of the long-lived remnants of the space race still circling above us and the challenges they pose.