Launched way back in 1972, Kosmos-482 is about to meet a fiery end.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s one straight out of the history books. After over 50 years in space, the late Soviet Union\u2019s Kosmos-482 mission is set to reenter the Earth\u2019s atmosphere, early next month. Stranded in Earth orbit, there are just a few weeks remaining to see this enigmatic relic of a bygone era.<\/p>\n We wrote about this doomed mission 2019, and the prospects for reentry. Launched on a Molniya-8K78M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 31st<\/sup>, 1972, the mission was likely meant to head to Venus. A similar launch involving the successful Venera 8 mission occurred on March 27th<\/sup>, 1972, just four days earlier. We say \u2018likely\u2019 as the Soviet space program of the 60s and 70s was largely silent concerning missions and launches until they were successful. This was the era of Cold War, when relations between the East and West were at a nadir. The Soviet Union never acknowledged the launch failure, and the simple \u2018Kosmos-482\u2019 designation remained.<\/p>\n Venera-8, thought to be identical to Kosmos-482. NASA Historical Archives.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s thought that a timer anomaly stranded Kosmos-482 in launch orbit. The payload separated into four pieces shortly after launch, several of which reentered over New Zealand on April 3rd<\/sup> just three days after launch. This sort of failure would repeat itself during the failed Phobos-Grunt mission, which crashed back to Earth in January 15th<\/sup>, 2012. Though the Soviet Venera program to Venus was largely successful, the post Soviet, Russian-era space program has yet to successfully field a lunar or planetary mission.<\/p>\n The reentry, though uncontrolled, poses little risk to those on the ground. The remaining payload in orbit weighs in at 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds), for context, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) spacecraft which reentered on September 24th<\/sup>, 2011 weighed in at a bulky 5,900 kilograms. The Kosmos-482 lander may well still be attached to the Blok-L upper stage that failed to send the mission on its way to Venus.<\/p>\n \u201cAs this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible that it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact,\u201d says satellite observer and analyst Marco Langbroek in a recent blog post. \u201cThere are many uncertain factors in this though, including that this will be a long, shallow reentry trajectory and the age of the object.\u201d<\/p>\n In a 52 degree inclination 156 by 394 kilometer orbit, Kosmos-482 orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes. The ID for the mission is 1972-023A\/6073, and Space-Track currently has a TIP message for the reentry up for the days centered on and around May 10th<\/sup>. As is the case with most reentries, we\u2019ll start seeing more accurate predictions as we get closer to reentry time. Reentry is still projected for a pretty wide swath, from 52 degrees north to 52 degrees south latitude.<\/p>\n The mission starts a series of early dawn twilight passes for North America, right around reentry time.<\/p>\n Heavens-Above now has predictions for the mission on their main page.<\/p>\n It\u2019s getting crowded up there as well. Satellites in low Earth orbit go all the way back to the U.S. Vanguard 1, launched in 1958. And the burden of space junk is getting exponentially more critical in 2025. SpaceX continues to large Starlink batches at an exponential pace, and these are now joined by China\u2019s 1,000 sails, OneWeb, and just this week, Amazon\u2019s Kuiper Project, which completed a first launch on April 28th<\/sup> as the company’s bid for its very own mega-satellite constellation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n There\u2019s no need to call in the Six Million Dollar Man<\/em> to do battle with the \u2018Venus Death Probe\u2019\u2026 yet. Be sure to catch sight of Kosmos-482 while you can, as a piece of space history lights up an increasingly crowded sky.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/assets\/nzk482_1972.jpg\"\/)
One of the Kosmos-482 fuel cylinders recovered from the Ashburton, New Zealand fall. Credit: Paul Maley.<\/em><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/assets\/block_l_and_2mv_planetary_probe.jpg\"\/)
The Blok-L upper stage booster before encapsulation. credit: Wikimedia Commons\/FRS Vetlana\/Creative Commons 4.0 Share-alike license.<\/em><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/assets\/cosmos_482_20140626_newselect1_marks-(1).jpg\"\/)
The failed lander, possibly still attached to part of the orbiter or the upper stage(?) A recent image of Kosmos-482 in orbit. Credit: Ralf Vandeberg.<\/em><\/p>\nTracking Kosmos-482 <\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/assets\/screenshot-2025-04-30-085848.jpg\"\/)
An orbital pass of Kosmos-482 on the morning on May 6th. Credit: Orbitron.<\/em><\/p>\n