Overview

• The Soviet Kosmos 482 probe, launched in 1972 for Venus exploration, reentered Earth's atmosphere on May 10, 2025, after 53 years in orbit.
• Roscosmos confirmed the probe's reentry occurred at 8:24 Italian time, with impact in the Indian Ocean, 560 km west of Middle Andaman Island.
• European tracking systems monitored the spacecraft’s final passes over Italy and Germany, confirming its descent after it failed to reappear over Germany.
• The U.S. Space Force provided a conflicting estimate, suggesting reentry occurred earlier over the Pacific Ocean, leading to ongoing uncertainty over precise debris locations.
• Experts assessed the risk to human life as extremely low, with the probe’s titanium shell surviving reentry largely intact but causing no reported damage.