Then we didn't, but we will again.
"Analysis of 2002 AA29's motions have revealed a remarkable event that happens to it every few thousand years.
In AD 550, and again in AD 2600 and AD 3880, the rock become, for a while, a true satellite of our planet, in effect Earth's second moon, although technically it will remain under the gravitational control of the Sun.
It remains a second moon to Earth for about 50 years until it escapes."
2002 AA29 is a persistent little devil that follows us about the solar system, and indeed may even be part of the planet that crashed into earth to form the moon...OR...part of the earth itself that was expelled into space.
Every once in a while NASA comes up with the idea to "nudge" the critter into a nearby orbit in order to study it more closely and determine what it really is and from whence it came, but so far the scientists have been overruled by the "Let's send a teacher into space!" types that have been running NASA for the last couple of decades. Sooner or later we'll get a President who can correctly spell "Galileo", and once again mankind will be sped forward by leaps and bounds towards improved technologies and the potential for a better existance for us all.
Sad part about it, is the fact that if the Russkies had the wherewithalls they themselves would have already landed upon AA29, and would today be doing what WE used to do back when "gut" meant more than what a guitar string is fashioned from.
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