The fragment of the rocket, which is supposed to fall on the far side of the moon on March 4, does not belong to China. This was stated by the representative of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wang Wenbin, answering a question from Associated Press.

"According to Chinese observation, the upper stage of the rocket belonging to the Chang'e-5T1 mission entered the atmosphere and burned up completely," the official said.

Earlier, the news that the Falcon 9 rocket stage (as it was then believed) would fall on the moon on March 4 caused a strong reaction around the world. SpaceX has been criticized by the media for failing to properly dispose of its second stage rocket after the launch of the DSCOVR mission.

Soon another candidate was found - the Chinese Chang'e-5T1, launched in October 2014 on a Long March 3C rocket as a preliminary test of a mission to return lunar samples. The launch time and lunar trajectory almost exactly match the orbit of an object that will collide with the Moon in March.

The object that should fall on the moon, as I wrote, was photographed from Earth by the founder of the Virtual Telescope Project, Gianluca Masi, using the 43-centimeter PlaneWave telescope in Rome, which he controlled remotely.

bbabo.Net