1972 Venus Mission Ends in Indian Ocean After Five Decades Orbit
(MENAFN) Russia's space agency announced Saturday that a long-inactive Soviet spacecraft plunged back into Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in the Indian Ocean.
Roscosmos, the Russian state space corporation, reported that Cosmos-482 re-entered the atmosphere at 09:24 Moscow time (0624 GMT) on Saturday. The point of entry was located 560 kilometers west of the Middle Andaman Island, with the spacecraft ultimately falling into the ocean west of Jakarta, according to their statement.
The descent of the spacecraft was under close observation by Russia's automated system designed to detect hazardous situations in near-Earth space, Roscosmos confirmed.
Originally launched in the spring of 1972, Cosmos-482 was intended for a Soviet mission aimed at exploring Venus. However, an unspecified technical issue prevented the probe from escaping Earth's orbit. Consequently, it remained in a highly elliptical orbit, slowly but surely spiraling closer to Earth over the subsequent five decades.
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