A Rocket From 1966 Has Found Its Way Back to Earth’s Orbit

Fifty-four years ago, NASA launched the Surveyor 2, an uncrewed mission to explore the surface of the moon. NASA's Surveyor program was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of launching, communicating with, controlling, and landing an uncrewed spacecraft on the moon, thereby paving the way for later crewed missions. Surveyor 1, launched on May 30, 1966, was a resounding success, easily meeting its primary objectives while also returning many images of the lunar surface and critical engineering data. That's when they tried to glean what useful data they could from a series of engineering tests before Surveyor 2 crashed into the lunar surface on September 23, southeast of the crater Copernicus. Meanwhile, the spent Centaur rocket continued on its merry way through space and was pretty much forgotten—at least until August of this year, when astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System in Hawaii spotted a mysterious object in a solar orbit that was due to pass close by Earth.