Russia's space agency says a Soviet spacecraft fell back to Earth Saturday morning over the Indian Ocean. It was originally headed to Venus, but instead spent more than 50 years orbiting Earth.

The long and troubled history of the would-be Venus spacecraft, known as Kosmos-482, can shed some light on these key questions, scientists say. So, let's have a look.

Russia has postponed its next missions to the Moon and Venus by at least a year, pushing their launches to 2028 and 2036, ...

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 ...

"The spacecraft was launched in the spring of 1972 to explore Venus, but due to a malfunction in the booster block, it remained in a high elliptical orbit of the Earth, gradually approaching the ...

Before a Soviet-era spacecraft intended for Venus crashed back to Earth over the weekend, German astronomers watched it tumble through space. As Kosmos 482 took its last laps, a German radar ...

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 ...