While its intriguing history has earned the lander media attention, Kosmos 482 is just one of more than 1.2 million pieces of space junk in Earth's orbit larger than 0.4 inches (1 centimeter ...

In an astonishing twist, theKosmos 482, a Russian spacecraft launched in 1972, is thought to have finally fallen to Earth after more than five decades of floating uncontrollably in orbit. Experts ...

The object — part of the Kosmos-482 spacecraft that launched 53 years ago — crashed to Earth at around 9:24 a.m. Moscow time (2:24 a.m. ET) on Saturday, according to the Russian space agency ...

Ten of those missions successfully landed on the hot, barren planet, but the rocket carrying Kosmos 482 malfunctioned. Its upper stage, which contained the descent craft, got stuck in Earth orbit.

Kosmos-482 has been orbiting the planet for more than 50 years, but scientists say it will re-enter earth's atmosphere sometime around 2 a.m. Eastern Saturday. Skip Navigation Share on Facebook ...

Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a ...

WASHINGTON — Sometime Friday night or Saturday morning, a Soviet-era spacecraft originally meant to land on Venus will re-enter the earth's atmosphere, dropping a half-ton mass of metal back to the ...