It has been discovered that contrary to previous reports, including those by The New York Times, Elon Musk's SpaceX is not responsible for the potential crater on the moon's surface. Instead, it is likely that a piece of a rocket launched by China's space agency will be the cause. Bill Gray, creator of Project Pluto, software used for astronomical calculations, recently announced that the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is on a trajectory that could intersect with the moon's path. This rocket had launched the Deep Space Climate Observatory for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2015. Gray has been monitoring this rocket part for several years, noting that in early January it came within 6,000 miles of the moon's surface, with the moon's gravity potentially causing it to crash on a subsequent orbit. Reports from amateur astronomers who witnessed the object passing Earth once again confirmed the expected collision within the Hertzsprung crater. However, a Saturday email from Jon Giorgini, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, provided new information. Giorgini manages Horizons, an online database that can provide information on the locations and orbits of nearly 1.2 million objects in the solar system, including around 200 spacecraft. After being asked by a Horizons user about the object's connection to the DSCOVR rocket, Giorgini decided to investigate further. He discovered that the orbit did not match the path that DSCOVR had taken, so he reached out to Gray. Gray initially thought he had it correct but then went back through his old emails to refresh his memory on when the object was first observed in March 2015, approximately one month after DSCOVR was launched. Typically, newly spotted objects in the sky are asteroids, and this was also assumed for this particular object, which was labeled WE0913A. However, it was discovered that WE0913A was orbiting Earth instead of the sun, suggesting it 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 DSCOVR's launch, confirming the identification. Gray realized his mistake in assuming DSCOVR was heading towards the moon for a gravity assist to reach its final destination, but Giorgini clarified that DSCOVR was actually launched on a direct path not passing the moon. Gray admitted that he regretted not reviewing the information before making his January announcement. After Jon Giorgini brought it to his attention, Gray realized his mistake. SpaceX did not comment on the issue, but it is likely that they were not monitoring the second stage of the rocket, as it is usually burned up in the atmosphere. The rocket needed all of its propellant to deliver DSCOVR to its destination. However, the unpowered and uncontrolled second stage of the rocket was in an orbit that was not a threat to satellites, so it was likely not being monitored. Gray expressed a wish for more transparency from companies launching boosters into high orbits, as he had to do research to determine what was in orbit. Gray then began examining other recent launches, particularly those bound for the moon, but found limited information in that category. The top candidate for the mission was a Long March 3C rocket which launched China's Chang'e-5 T1 spacecraft on October 23, 2014. The spacecraft orbited the moon and returned to Earth, releasing a return capsule that landed in Mongolia as a test for the upcoming Chang'e-5 mission in 2020. A computer simulation of the orbit of WE0913A revealed that it would have passed close to the moon on October 28, just five days after the Chinese launch. Additionally, data from a cubesat attached to the rocket's third stage closely matched that of WE0913A, according to Gray. "It's a case that could likely result in a conviction if brought before a jury," remarked amateur astronomer Christophe Demeautis from northeast France, after further observations this month adjusted the projected time and location of the object's impact on the moon. The crash is still expected to occur around 7:26 am Eastern time, but it will not be visible from Earth due to its location on the far side of the moon. The search for the missing Falcon 9 part, specifically the DSCOVR second stage, is ongoing. The most likely scenario is that it is now orbiting the sun instead of the Earth, and it may still be out there. This would make it currently out of sight. Similar occurrences have happened before with parts of old rockets resurfacing, as seen in 2020 when a mystery object was identified as a component of a rocket launched in 1966 for NASA's Surveyor missions to the moon.