Kosmos 482: Soviet-era spacecraft 'likely' to have re-entered Earth's atmosphere

The spacecraft, which launched in 1972 on a mission to Venus, circled Earth for over five decades.

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Kosmos 482, which launched in 1972 on a mission to Venus, never made it out of Earth's orbit and instead broke into four pieces that have been circling the planet for more than five decades.

The EU Space Surveillance and Tracking centre (SST) said one fragment - believed to be the lander - "most likely" re-entered the atmosphere at about 06:16 GMT (07:16 BST) on Saturday.

It is unclear whether the object fell to the ground or burned up in the atmosphere.

It is also unclear exactly where the object re-entered the atmosphere.