New Delhi, May 11 -- Cosmos 482, an old Soviet spacecraft, likely fell from the sky early Saturday morning, according to the European Space Agency. The space object, also known as Kosmos 482, was sent toward Venus more than 50 years ago to study its environment, but it failed and instead remained trapped in Earth orbit for decades.

Cosmos 482 is believed to be a capsule launched by the Soviet Union in March 1972 that failed en route to a transfer orbit that would have taken it to Venus to study its environment.

In the decades since its launch, the cylinder-shaped craft of about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, circled Earth aimlessly as it was slowly dragged back toward home.

According to the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, the probe ent...