History Crashes to Earth: The Long Journey of Venus Probe Kosmos 482

During the height of the Cold War in the 1960s and 1970s, the USSR launched 29 spacecraft towards Venus, the planet scientists call Earth's "twin sister".

Three flew past Venus, and went into orbit around the Sun. Sixteen orbited or landed on Venus, where they experienced a climate often described as "hellish".

Ten got stuck in Earth orbit. All of them re-entered Earth's atmosphere the same year they were launched – except Kosmos 482, which has stayed aloft for 53 more years.

As the last remnant of the Soviet Venus program left in Earth orbit, it's not your average piece of space junk.

Because it was designed to withstand Venusian conditions, many think the lander may make planetfall on Earth instead of incinerating in the atmosphere. And that is expected to happen this week.

Destination Morning Star

Venus was a target of interest because its thick clouds might be hiding life on the surface. But the spacecraft were also Cold War weapons aimed at demonstrating the superiority of socialist science.

Venus was a target of interest because its thick clouds might be hiding life on the surface. But the spacecraft were also Cold War weapons aimed at demonstrating the superiority of socialist science.

The spacecraft comprised a delivery "bus" about 3.5 metres tall, with a propulsion system, solar panels and a mesh dish antenna at one end, and the spherical landing craft at the other end.

The landers had their own refrigeration system to cool them down and a heat shield to protect them. If all went to plan, the buses would eject the landers from orbit. The landers would hit the upper cloud decks at a speed of nearly 12km per second.

At 60km altitude, the main parachute was released to float the lander down to the surface. A range of instruments would then measure the temperature, pressure, wind speed, visibility, atmospheric gases and rock composition, and radio the results back to Earth. Each lander carried a USSR medallion inside.

But all didn't go to plan. Venera 8 sped on its way to Venus, sending its lander down on July 22.

Fate had something different in store for Kosmos 482.How to be space junk in one easy step

Because the timer wasn't set correctly, the upper rocket stage that was supposed to propel the Kosmos 482 bus out of Earth orbit shut down too early. The rocket stage fell back to Earth and burnt up, while titanium pressure vessels from its fuel system fell onto fields in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The bus and landing craft came apart in mid-June and the bus fell back into the atmosphere in 1981. The 465kg lander continued its orbit alone.

How to be space junk in one easy step

The upper rocket stage that was meant to propel the Kosmos 482 bus out of Earth orbit shut off too early because the timer wasn't set correctly. The rocket stage fell back to Earth and burnt up, while titanium pressure vessels from its fuel system fell onto fields in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The bus and landing craft came apart in mid-June and the bus fell back into the atmosphere in 1981. The 465kg lander continued its orbit alone.

In its highly elliptical orbit around Earth, the lander came as close as 210 kilometers to its closest point, which was 9,000 kilometers away. Over 50 years, that orbit has lowered to only 2,000km at its farthest point. It is now being pulled back toward Earth by the atmosphere, with a May 10 re-entry date anticipated. You can receive news about the Kosmos 482's