Contrary to previous reports, including those by The New York Times, it appears that Elon Musk's SpaceX is not responsible for the crater on the lunar surface. Instead, it is likely that a piece of a rocket launched by China's space agency is the cause. Bill Gray, the developer of Project Pluto, announced that the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was on a trajectory to intersect with the moon's path. This rocket had launched the Deep Space Climate Observatory for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in February 2015. Gray had been monitoring this rocket part for years, and in early January, it passed within 6,000 miles of the moon's surface. The moon's gravity then altered its path, potentially causing it to crash on a subsequent orbit. Reports from amateur stargazers who witnessed the object passing by Earth once again confirmed the anticipated collision within the Hertzsprung crater. However, a message from Jon Giorgini, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, on Saturday altered the narrative. Giorgini manages Horizons, an online database capable of providing data on the locations and orbits of nearly 1.2 million objects in the solar system, including approximately 200 spacecraft. Following a query from a Horizons user regarding the object's association with the DSCOVR rocket, Giorgini delved deeper into the matter. He discovered that the orbit did not match the path taken by DSCOVR and reached out to Gray for confirmation. Gray initially believed he was correct, but decided to review his old emails to confirm when the object was first identified in March 2015, shortly after DSCOVR's launch. Typically, new objects seen in the sky are asteroids, and the same assumption was made for this object, which was labeled as WE0913A. However, it was discovered that WE0913A was actually orbiting Earth, not the sun, indicating it likely originated from Earth. Gray suggested it could be a part of the rocket that launched DSCOVR, and further data showed that WE0913A passed the moon two days after the DSCOVR launch, confirming this theory. Gray now realizes his mistake in assuming DSCOVR was launched towards the moon to use its gravity to reach its final destination, but as Giorgini pointed out, DSCOVR was actually launched on a direct path that did not involve passing the moon. "I really regret not reviewing that before making my January announcement," Gray stated. "But once Jon Giorgini brought it to my attention, it was obvious that I had made a mistake." SpaceX, who did not provide a comment, never denied that WE0913A was their rocket stage. However, it is likely that they have not been monitoring it either. Typically, the second stage of a Falcon 9 is intentionally burned up in the atmosphere. However, in this instance, the rocket needed all of its fuel to successfully deliver DSCOVR to its far-off destination. However, the second stage, which was not powered or controlled, was in an orbit that was not likely to pose a threat to any satellites, and it was probably not being monitored by anyone. Gray expressed a desire for transparency from those launching boosters into high orbits, stating that it would be helpful if they publicly disclosed what they were putting up there and where the objects were headed, as opposed to him having to figure it out on his own. Gray then questioned what the object could be if it was not the DSCOVR rocket, and he began to investigate other launches from the previous months, specifically focusing on those aimed at the moon. Gray noted that there were not many launches in that category. The leading candidate was a Long March 3C rocket which launched China's Chang'e-5 T1 spacecraft on October 23, 2014. The spacecraft orbited the moon before returning to Earth and dropping off a return capsule in Mongolia as part of a test for the Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, which successfully retrieved moon rocks and dust for study on Earth. A computer simulation of the orbit of WE0913A indicated it would have come close to a lunar flyby on October 28, just five days after the Chinese launch. Additionally, orbital data from a cubesat attached to the Long March rocket closely matched that of WE0913A, according to Gray. "It's a case that likely would result in a conviction if taken to a jury," stated Christophe Demeautis, an amateur astronomer from northeast France, regarding the object predicted to strike the moon. Recent observations have slightly adjusted the timing and location of the impact, but it is still certain to occur at around 7:26 am Eastern time. However, because it will happen on the far side of the moon, it will not be visible from Earth. As for the missing Falcon 9 part, efforts are still ongoing to locate the DSCOVR second stage. It is believed that the object ended up in orbit around the sun rather than the Earth, and it is possible that it is still out there. This could explain why it is currently out of view. Previous instances have shown that pieces of old rockets have returned, such as in 2020 when a mystery object was discovered to be part of a rocket launched in 1966 for NASA's Surveyor missions to the moon.