J002E3

Initially thought to be an asteroid, it has since been tentatively identified as the third stage of Apollo 12 Saturn V based on spectrographic evidence consistent with the titanium dioxide in the paint used on the rockets.

[1][2] Photometric observations of J002E3 made in February 2003 from the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site (AMOS) matched an S-IVB light curve model consisting of a diffuse cylinder tumbling with a period of 63.46 seconds and a precession of 79 ± 10°.

[5] NASA had originally planned to direct the S-IVB into a solar orbit, but an extra long burn of the ullage motors meant that venting the remaining propellant in the tank of the S-IVB did not give the rocket stage enough energy to escape the Earth–Moon system, and instead the stage ended up in a semi-stable orbit around the Earth after passing by the Moon on 18 November 1969.

[9] Ten essentially similar empty S-IVB stages from Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project missions[b] have re-entered the atmosphere from 1966 to 1975.

In all cases (including the Skylab station), the objects burned in the atmosphere and broke into relatively small pieces, rather than striking the Earth as a single mass.