Soviet Era Capsule Crashing Back On Earth

[steve_bank]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/09/science/soviet-spacecraft-crash-kosmos-482

A Soviet-era spacecraft that was designed to make a soft landing on Venus — but instead remained trapped in Earth orbit for decades — is slated to fall from the sky Friday night or early Saturday, according to the latest estimates from experts.

The object, referred to as Cosmos 482 or Kosmos 482, is believed to be a capsule launched by the Soviet Union in March 1972 that failed en route to a transfer orbit that would have taken it to Venus to study its environment.

In the decades since, the object has circled Earth aimlessly as it was slowly dragged back toward home.

 

[DBT]

''The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.'' - Space.com

 

[Elixir]

''The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.'' - Space.com

Damn.

 

[thebeave]

''The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.'' - Space.com

Damn.

I know, right? The kid in me is always hoping these dying spacecraft will plow into Disneyland or some huge skyscraper somewhere. Or even just a barn full of cows in Podunk, Nebraska. Something cool and spectacular causing great chaos. Instead, its another boring plow into the ocean.

 

[TomC]

''The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.'' - Space.com

Damn.

I know, right? The kid in me is always hoping these dying spacecraft will plow into Disneyland or some huge skyscraper somewhere. Or even just a barn full of cows in Podunk, Nebraska. Something cool and spectacular causing great chaos. Instead, its another boring plow into the ocean.

The Kremlin would have been great and appropriate. But the White House would have been fun too.
Tom

 

[Elixir]

''The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.'' - Space.com

Damn.

I know, right? The kid in me is always hoping these dying spacecraft will plow into Disneyland or some huge skyscraper somewhere. Or even just a barn full of cows in Podunk, Nebraska. Something cool and spectacular causing great chaos. Instead, its another boring plow into the ocean.

The Kremlin would have been great and appropriate. But the White House would have been fun too.
Tom

I was hoping for Mag-a-Lardo.

 

[thebeave]

Welp, that's random subject thread #162 on IIDB that couldn't get to 10 posts without a Trump reference.

 

[TomC]

Welp, that's random subject thread #162 on IIDB that couldn't get to 10 posts without a Trump reference.

Probably because political discussions are more interesting than "old space junk falls into sea".
Tom

 

[Elixir]

Welp, that's random subject thread #162 on IIDB that couldn't get to 10 posts without a Trump reference.

Probably because political discussions are more interesting than "old space junk falls into sea".
Tom

I was HOPING to tie them together... alas.

 

[thebeave]

Welp, that's random subject thread #162 on IIDB that couldn't get to 10 posts without a Trump reference.

Probably because political discussions are more interesting than "old space junk falls into sea".
Tom

Depends on the political discussion and the nature of the "old space junk". But I say that as someone who grew up transfixed by the Apollo and other space programs, so I may be a little biased on that.

 

[TomC]

Welp, that's random subject thread #162 on IIDB that couldn't get to 10 posts without a Trump reference.

Probably because political discussions are more interesting than "old space junk falls into sea".
Tom

Depends on the political discussion and the nature of the "old space junk". But I say that as someone who grew up transfixed by the Apollo and other space programs, so I may be a little biased on that.

I kinda did too. I was quite the sci-fi fan and my parents gifted me a subscription to some Time/Life thing that sent me a model of Apollo 11 to build, a new magazine talking about space stuff every month, and a set of boxes to keep keep them in on a library shelf. I was heartbroken to find out that I had gotten the last one in the series.

As a result, I know perfectly well that a vehicle designed to land on Venus, but instead made an uncontrolled descent to the surface, was unlikely to be more than a shower of tiny molten bits lasting seconds by the time it reached the surface. Not very interesting really.
Tom

 

[thebeave]

Welp, that's random subject thread #162 on IIDB that couldn't get to 10 posts without a Trump reference.

Probably because political discussions are more interesting than "old space junk falls into sea".
Tom

Depends on the political discussion and the nature of the "old space junk". But I say that as someone who grew up transfixed by the Apollo and other space programs, so I may be a little biased on that.

I kinda did too. I was quite the sci-fi fan and my parents gifted me a subscription to some Time/Life thing that sent me a model of Apollo 11 to build, a new magazine talking about space stuff every month, and a set of boxes to keep keep them in on a library shelf. I was heartbroken to find out that I had gotten the last one in the series.

As a result, I know perfectly well that a vehicle designed to land on Venus, but instead made an uncontrolled descent to the surface, was unlikely to be more than a shower of tiny molten bits lasting seconds by the time it reached the surface. Not very interesting really.
Tom

OMG! I got that Apollo program kit too! I'm pretty sure it was from National Geographic though. But yeah, you would get a small magazine once a month with lots of photos and diagrams of the recent events & progress, and bios of the astronauts, etc. There was a model of some kind every month too, that you could assemble. I've been trying to find info on that kids' program for years now, but not finding anything.

 

[TomC]

I'm pretty sure it was from National Geographic though.

Probably so. It was back in the mid 1900s, I was middle school age. Burgundy and silver?
Tom

 

[bilby]

''The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.'' - Space.com

Damn.

I know, right? The kid in me is always hoping these dying spacecraft will plow into Disneyland or some huge skyscraper somewhere. Or even just a barn full of cows in Podunk, Nebraska. Something cool and spectacular causing great chaos. Instead, its another boring plow into the ocean.

To be fair, the ocean is most of the planet's surface, so it's the way to bet.

Skylab managed to hit land; It crashed into Western Australia, and the WA government gave NASA a ticket for littering.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

''The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.'' - Space.com

Damn.

I know, right? The kid in me is always hoping these dying spacecraft will plow into Disneyland or some huge skyscraper somewhere. Or even just a barn full of cows in Podunk, Nebraska. Something cool and spectacular causing great chaos. Instead, its another boring plow into the ocean.

And unlike most such things this one was designed to survive the fire. And even if it was intended to land it's chutes will be piddling little things of very little value on Earth.

 

[barbos]

The Kremlin would have been great and appropriate. But the White House would have been fun too.
Tom

It had exactly zero chance of hitting Kremlin or much of the Russia. But White House, Pentagon or some neocon think tank building would have been appropriate.

 

[Tigers!]

The Kremlin would have been great and appropriate. But the White House would have been fun too.
Tom

It had exactly zero chance of hitting Kremlin or much of the Russia. But White House, Pentagon or some neocon think tank building would have been appropriate.

You Russkies had the whole of the formerly Soviet Union to land your unwanted debris and still you mucked it up.

 

[steve_bank]

Barbos the Neocom(munist)....

 

[barbos]

The Kremlin would have been great and appropriate. But the White House would have been fun too.
Tom

It had exactly zero chance of hitting Kremlin or much of the Russia. But White House, Pentagon or some neocon think tank building would have been appropriate.

You Russkies had the whole of the formerly Soviet Union to land your unwanted debris and still you mucked it up.

It was supposed to land on Venus.

 

[DBT]