The craft was last detected over Germany and is believed to have completed an uncontrolled re-entry after a botched mission to Venus left it orbiting Earth for more than 50 years.

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.

The Kosmos 482 probe crashed to Earth today (May 10) after circling our planet for more than five decades. Reentry occurred at 2:24 a.m. ET (0624 GMT or 9:24 a.m. Moscow time) over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta, Indonesia, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos. Kosmos 482 appears to have fallen harmlessly into the sea.