Kosmos 482 was part of the Soviet Union's storied Venera program of Venus exploration. The probe launched toward the second planet from the sun in 1972 but never got there; its rocket suffered an anomaly, stranding Kosmos 482 in an elliptical orbit around Earth.

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.