The rocket is expected to crash into the far side of the moon on March 4
Beijing:
On Monday, China denied responsibility for a rocket that hit the Moon, after experts suggested the piece of space debris could have come from Beijing’s lunar exploration program.
Astronomers initially thought the silly object was a fragment of a SpaceX rocket that exploded seven years ago and was abandoned in space after completing its mission.
But it is currently believed to be the booster for the Chang’e 5-T1 spacecraft, which was launched in 2014 as part of the Chinese space agency’s lunar exploration program.
The rocket is expected to crash into the far side of the moon on March 4.
However, China’s foreign ministry denied Monday’s claim, saying the booster in question had “safely entered the Earth’s atmosphere and was completely burned up”.
Spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press conference, Beijing “agreed to maintain the long-term sustainability of space activities”.
China has set its sights on becoming a space superpower and took a major step last year with the launch of the longest crewed mission to its new space station.
The world’s second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in a military-run space program that hopes to eventually send humans to the Moon.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
