NASA Statement on March 4, 2022 Lunar Impact             22 March 2022

Rocket Booster Reported to Impact the Moon

On Feb. 13, media began reporting a rocket booster expected to collide
with the Moon in early March was wrongly identified as a SpaceX rocket
stage and, instead, is likely from a China lunar mission. Media, citing
experts, reported on March 4 the booster is estimated to have impacted
the lunar surface at about 7:25 a.m. EST on March 4. Below is our
response to calls for comment:

Analysis led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Center for Near-Earth
Object Studies indicates the object that was expected to impact the far
side of the Moon on March 4 is likely the Chinese Chang’e 5-T1 booster
launched in 2014. It is not a SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage from a
mission in 2015, as previously reported. This update results from
analysis of the object’s orbits in the 2016 – 2017 timeframe.

If asked about NASA’s role in space debris:
NASA's Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis office attempts to protect
all NASA assets from space debris, and the Orbital Debris Program Office
is especially focused on protecting human spaceflight assets from space
debris.