It is thought that J002E3 left Earth orbit in June 2003, and that it may return to orbit the Earth in the mid-2040s. Potential impact with Earth or Moon The object's Earth orbital paths occasionally take it within the radius of the Moon's orbit, and could result in eventual entry into Earth's atmosphere, or collision with the Moon. The Apollo 12 empty S-IVB, Instrument Unit, and spacecraft adapter base, had a mass of about . This is less than one-fifth of the mass of the Skylab space station, which was constructed from a similar S-IVB and fell out of orbit on 11 July 1979. Objects with a mass of about enter Earth's atmosphere approximately 10 times a year, one of which impacts the Earth's surface approximately once every 10 years. Ten essentially similar empty S-IVB stages from Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project missions 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. On the other hand, these objects entered from low Earth orbit or a ballistic trajectory, with less energy than J002E3 might possibly have if it were to enter from solar orbit. See also 6Q0B44E, space debris originally thought to be a meteoroid 2006 RH120, a meteoroid originally thought to be space debris 2007 VN84, an asteroid designation mistakenly given to the Rosetta spacecraft 3753 Cruithne 2020 SO Space debris Notes References External links J002E3 Animations, CNEOS Mystery Object J002E3 Gallery, NASA Mystery Object Orbits Earth, NASA , University of Arizona Apollo program Apollo 12 Space debris Derelict satellites in heliocentric orbit Near-Earth objects in 2002 Claimed moons of Earth 20020903