A Soviet-area spacecraft that orbited Earth for more than 50 years crashed into the Indian Ocean on Saturday, Russian officials confirmed. "The Kosmos-482 spacecraft, launched in 1972, ceased to exist,

The spacecraft, stuck in orbit since 1972 after an unsuccessful mission to Venus, plunged into the Indian Ocean.

Kosmos 482 was launched by the then-Soviet Union in 1972 as 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.