Soviet-Era Kosmos 482 Crashes into Indian Ocean After 53 Years in Orbit

A historic spacecraft meets its final descent after half a century circling Earth

The Soviet-era Kosmos 482 spacecraft, originally launched in March 1972 as part of the Soviet Union’s Venera program, has re-entered Earth’s atmosphere after spending 53 years in orbit.

The probe, which was meant to land on Venus, crashed into the Indian Ocean early on May 11, 2025, approximately 560 kilometres west of India’s Middle Andaman Island.

Experts from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the EU’s Space Surveillance and Tracking network had been closely monitoring the spacecraft’s descent. The ESA confirmed the reentry after it failed to appear over a German radar station, signalling that it had already entered Earth’s atmosphere.

Kosmos 482 was engineered to endure the harsh conditions of Venus, featuring a reinforced titanium shell. Due to its rugged design, space analysts predicted that parts of the probe might have survived the intense heat of reentry. However, no debris or damage has been reported, and experts affirm that the risk to human life from uncontrolled space debris remains extremely low.

Under international space law, any remains of the spacecraft legally belong to Russia. The event highlights the legacy of early space exploration and the increasing need for space debris tracking as human activity in orbit continues to expand.