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

The failed Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 has finally returned to Earth after 53 years in orbit. It disappeared into the Indian Ocean early Saturday morning.

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.