Soviet spacecraft hits Earth...50 years later!

THE final part of a Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth yesterday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.

- By Marcia Dunn

Russia's space agency Roscosmos said that the half-tonne Kosmos 482 spacecraft had fallen into the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.

But it remains unclear whether it reached the ocean in one piece.

The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking system confirmed the uncontrolled re-entry 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 which was 3ft across had re-entered after failing to appear over a German radar station.