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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, re-entered the atmosphere on 10 May at 6:24 UT. Because the probe was designed to withstand entry into the Venus atmosphere, it may have survived re-entry, but it would have landed in the Indian Ocean.

The ispace Resilience lunar lander mission entered lunar orbit on 06 May at 20:41 UT (07 May 5:41 a.m. JST) in preparation for a landing on the Moon no earlier than 05 June 2025.

The 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

1969: Apollo 10 reaches the Moon and goes into orbit.
2010: Launch of Akatsuki, JAXA Venus Climate Orbiter.
2018: China launches the Queqiao lunar relay satellite and two radio astronomy microsatellites.