RETURN OF DEATH PROBE

Fifty years ago, on March 31, 1972, days after the successful launch of Venera 8 on the surface of Venus, the Soviet Union launched a second Venera probe. Something went wrong and it got stuck in Earth orbit instead. It subsequently was post-designated Kosmos 482 by the Soviets. Half a century later, part of the craft is still in orbit, but it won’t be for long anymore. This object is 1972-023E, the Kosmos 482 Descent Craft, the car-sized capsule module of the Venera in its approximately one-meter protective shell.

The capsule is expected to land over the weekend, but could possibly crash somewhere in Southern England! Its a slim chance, with expectations placing it to land in the sea.

The TV series 'Six Million Dollar Man', which featured Lee Majors as the astronaut who survives a crash landing of a lifting body, but with major bionic replacement parts (leg, arm and eye) ran for several series and pitted the hero against a variety of threats and enemies, including a robotic Bigfoot and a runaway Venus Probe! 

 

Kenner produced an Action Man sized figure, with various accessories, which was massively popular in the seventies, with a range of playsets, including a nifty Venus Probe. The TV series had a notably dodgy two part episode called "Death Probe" with a car sized rover running crazily around the US, leaving a trail of destruction, until Steve Austin rocks up to save the day. It was one of the most silly episodes of the series and only surpassed by the later two parter "Return of Death Probe" which featured an even more hokey looking vehicle that would have sat happily in a contemporary episode of Dr Who!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvJkWrXRhUU

Needless to say, the Venus Probe toy never saw a British release, so we had to resort to our bionic buddies battling Cherilea Scorpion tanks and Barbie sports cars instead!