Launch of Falcon 9 carrying DSCOVR – The rocket was deployed in 2015 to put into orbit a NASA satellite called the DSCOVR. Since then, the second stage of the rocket, or booster, has been floating in what mathematicians call a chaotic orbit, astronomer Bill Gray told AFP. /Wikipedia/

A file photo of a Falcon 9 booster landing on re-entry. The booster passed quite close to the Moon in January in a rendezvous that altered its orbit, said astronomer Bill Gray. He is behind Project Pluto, software that allows for calculating the trajectory of asteroids and other objects in space and is used in NASA-financed space observation programs. SpaceX

This image shows the far side of the moon, illuminated by the sun, as it crosses between the DSCOVR spacecraft’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) camera and telescope, and the Earth – one million miles away. A week after the rocket stage whizzed close to the Moon, Gray observed it again and concluded it would crash into the Moon’s dark side on March 4 at more than 5,500 miles per hour (9,000 kilometers per hour). Credits: NASA/NOAA