Soviet Spacecraft Crash Lands on Earth After a Journey of Half a Century
The New York TimesSaturday, May 10, 2025 at 5:34:19 PM
** A Soviet spacecraft from 1972, originally destined for Venus, has finally crash-landed back on Earth after spending 50 years in space. The probe, Kosmos-482, was part of the USSR's ambitious Cold War-era space program, which included successful missions like Venera 8. This relic from a bygone era serves as a reminder of the fierce space race between superpowers—and how some artifacts of that competition are still floating around, waiting to come home.
What This Means: ** It's not every day that a piece of Cold War history literally falls from the sky. While this spacecraft never completed its mission, its return is a quirky footnote in space history—showing just how long humanity's discarded tech can linger in orbit before making an unplanned reentry. For space buffs, it’s a fascinating glimpse into an era when Venus was the next big frontier. For everyone else, it’s a reminder that space junk, even decades-old, doesn’t just disappear.
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