China casts doubt on origin of rocket debris about to slam into the Moon

Part of a Chinese Long March 3C, shown here, is thought to be the piece of debris about to slam into the Moon in March. But China is casting doubt on that claim. | Image: STR/AFP via Getty Images

China claims that a piece of distant space debris that’s about to slam into the Moon does not stem from one of the nation’s lunar missions, as astronomers tracking the object believe. However, it’s possible that China may have mixed up which mission the debris originally came from, as most evidence points to it being an old Chinese rocket.

This doomed space object has received quite a lot of attention over the last few weeks, ever since an astronomer and space tracker by the name of Bill Gray first predicted that it would slam into the Moon on March 4th after years of orbiting the Earth. At first, Gray thought the object was a leftover chunk of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched a satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

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