Before the launch of Apollo 11 in 1969, NASA launched several unmanned aircraft into space to try to reach the satellite.
The second of those ships was the Surveyor 2 mission and launched into space in 1966.
However, it was not successful as there were problems during the trip and the lander ended up crashing into the moon.
The space rocket that was used in that mission was left wandering through space. It is one of the thousands of objects that make up what is known as space junk and that NASA controls to prevent any possible approach to Earth.
Now, the North American space agency has announced that this rocket is approaching our planet again.
NASA discovered an unidentified object months ago and has been monitoring it ever since.
Thanks to the Pan-STARRS1 telescope, located on the island of Hawaii, astronomers were able to see an object with a curved path, which could warn of its approach to Earth. However, it was not what it seemed.
The Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, in the state of Massachusetts, gave this object a name as if it were any other asteroid: 2020 SO.
However, NASA scientists analyzed the orbit and realized that it was not a normal asteroid as it had an orbit very similar to that of Earth.
The astronomers began to analyze in depth that supposed asteroid until they verified that its trajectory changed due to the action of the sun’s radiation, which could indicate that it was not an asteroid.
With the participation of scientists from around the world, it was concluded that this object was part of a space rocket that was used to launch the Surveyor 2 spacecraft in 1966.
Paul Chodas, director of the Center for the Study of Near-Earth Objects (CNEOS), confirms to debate that it is that space rocket that is more than half a century old and that it has approached the Earth several times, although it has never shown danger of causing any harm to our planet.
Thus ends an episode that has kept NASA in suspense and that has served to locate one of those objects that form space debris.
Check out the video below to witness the launch of the spacecraft in 1966:
Source: Elconfidencial
