A space probe called Kosmos 482 sent to explore Venus by the U.S.S.R. in 1972 but marooned in Earth orbit ever since is about to renter and crash-land.

A spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union in 1972 is due to come crashing back into Earth's atmosphere around May 10 and nobody knows where it will land.

Each cloud represents in visible form (due to water droplets) a rising column of air,” the Earth Observatory says. NASA/Earth Observatory A blast from the past will be hitting Earth next week, as a failed Soviet spacecraft will make an uncontrolled re-entry into the planet’s atmosphere.