Rocket on course to crash into moon
----------------------------------------
A spent Chinese rocket – initially misidentified as a booster built by SpaceX – is on a collision course with the moon, the first time a piece of “space junk” will unintentionally strike the lunar surface
----------------------------------------
Payload fairing
Third stage
Inter- stage section
Second stage
Inter- stage section
First stage

1 Oct 23, 2014: Long March 3C rocket carrying Chang’e 5-T1 spacecraft, launched by Chinese space agency CNSA as precursor test for 2020 lunar-sample return mission

2 After detaching from spacecraft, third stage booster is left in orbit between Earth and moon
 
Third stage 
Length: 12.4m 
Diameter: 3m 
Weight: 4 tonnes

Derelict vehicle tumbles around in chaotic orbit 3 for over seven years

Mar 4, 12:26GMT:
Booster to impact 520km-wide crater on far side of moon, at velocity of 9,288km/hr

Hertzsprung crater

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will attempt to observe impact

Observation of subsurface material ejected by collision could provide valuable scientific data
----------------------------------------
Source: Bill Gray, Project Pluto Pictures: NASA © GRAPHIC NEWS