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What's New in Lunar & Planetary Science

Cosmos 482, a failed Soviet Venus probe launched in 1972 but left stranded in an elliptical Earth orbit that has slowly been decaying, was last seen on radar over Germany a little after 6:00 UT on May 10 and is presumed to have reentered the atmosphere. Because the probe was designed to withstand entry into the Venus atmosphere, it is possible it did not burn up on reentry and has impacted the surface at an unknown point.

The ispace Resilience lunar lander mission entered lunar orbit on May 6 at 20:41 UT (May 7, 5:41 a.m. JST) in preparation for a landing on the Moon no earlier than 5 June 2025.

Lucy mission flew within about 960 km of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson on 20 April 2025 with closest approach at 17:51 UT (1:51 p.m. EDT). For images from the flyby and more information, see the Lucy news release.

This Day in Planetary and Lunar Exploration History

1971: Launch of Cosmos 419, intended to be first Mars orbiter, never left Earth orbit.
2021: OSIRIS-REx sample return mission leaves asteroid Bennu and heads back to Earth.