Kosmos-482 (V-72 №671) Stranded Venera Programme Spacecraft Reentered

[ralfvandebergh]

It's not given much thought, but it's actually quite special to have these external images of a Venera lander(Cosmos-482 captured in june 2014 in orbit around the Earth), as the capsule would have been seen by an imaginary person on the Venusian surface during its descent. These must be the only images showing a Venera landing capsule from outside in space (apart from onboard cameras). If this failed mission hadn't happened, these kinds of images would never have existed, because the capsule wouldn't have remained in orbit for 53 years, making it possible to photograph it from Earth with current technology.

In any case, I can't help but feel that we can even see a little of the capsule's shape in these images...

Ralf Vandebergh

https://satellite-imaging.jouwweb.nl/selected-project-samples-best-works