A model of the Surveyor lander. NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA has confirmed that a mysterious object that just flew past Earth is the dead booster of a 1960s Centaur rocket. Earth's gravity briefly captured the booster this year, causing it to loop the planet twice before returning to an orbit around the sun. Scientists confirmed that the object was a Centaur booster by comparing its electromagnetic fingerprint to that of a known Centaur booster in space. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A mysterious object zipped past Earth on Tuesday, coming within 32,000 miles of our planet.