The Soviet spacecraft Kosmos-482 has returned to Earth after a 50-year journey through space.

The probe re-entered the dense layers of Earth’s atmosphere at 9:24 a.m. Moscow time and splashed down approximately 560 kilometers off Middle Andaman Island in the Indian Ocean.

Over the past year alone, 1,981 objects — both natural and artificial — have entered our planet’s atmosphere.

On average, five objects fall to Earth every day, and one out of seven weighs more than 500 kilograms. At night, they can often be seen as ‘shooting stars.’ Cases of material damage are extremely rare.

@science