Soviet-era spacecraft plunges to Earth after 53 years stuck in orbit
Source: AP
A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.
The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking confirmed its uncontrolled reentry, based on analysis and no-shows of the spacecraft on subsequent orbits. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also indicated that the spacecraft had reentered after it failed to appear over a German radar station.
It was not immediately known where the spacecraft came in or how much, if any, of the half-ton spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time that some if not all of it might come crashing down, given it was built to withstand a landing on Venus, the solar system’s hottest planet.
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Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a rocket malfunction.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/soviet-venus-spacecraft-kosmos-482-93871c98ca9c09a67219e238ed3e2eaa
= new reply since forum marked as read
Astronomer Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project caught an image of Kosmos 482 during one of its final orbits as it passed over Rome, Italy just before sunrise on May 10. In the photo, the probe is "visible as a trail entering the field of view from the top and pointing to the bottom right corner," Masi wrote on his website. "The picture is the sum of four images, this is why the trail of Cosmos 482 looks dashed."
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/failed-soviet-venus-lander-kosmos-482-crashes-to-earth-after-53-years-in-orbit
I think that's the vague smear about a third in from the right, and about 40% down from the top.
Had to open the image in a separate tab and ctrl-+ to read it.
Italian astronomer ignored the Russian spelling "Kosmos". 
