Uncontrolled Soviet Probe Crashes to Earth, Hitting Unknown Location

A failed Venus mission fell from the sky over the weekend after aimlessly orbiting Earth for the past 53 years. Various agencies closely monitored Kosmos 482’s reentry, but its exact landing site remains unknown due to conflicting reports. Kosmos 482 performed an uncontrolled reentry on Saturday, May 10, plunging through Earth’s atmosphere around 2:24 a.m. ET, according to Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos. The Soviet-era spacecraft was built to withstand the scorching temperatures of Venus, so it’s likely that parts of it survived the heat of atmospheric reentry before crashing on Earth. So far, however, there have been no reports of visual observations of Kosmos’ descent nor has there been recovery of its debris from the ocean. Roscosmos said that the Soviet-era spacecraft splashed down in the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, around 350 miles (560 kilometers) west of Middle Andaman Island. The European Space Agency (ESA) also monitored the probe’s descent, placing its reentr ... Read full article.