Kosmos 482 was launched in March 1972 as part of the Soviet Venera program to explore Venus from the surface. A launch mishap left the nearly 500-kilogram spacecraft stuck in an elliptical Earth orbit for 53 years. It's journey finally came to an end after the atmospheric drag caused it to dip below the atmosphere.

Kosmos 482, a Soviet spacecraft that never made it beyond Earth’s orbit on its way to Venus, is due to come crashing down on 9 or 10 May

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.