Piece of SpaceX rocket believed to have crashed into moon
A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage is expected to impact the moon's surface near the Einstein Crater. The collision, which was unintentional, resulted from orbital mechanics and solar activity after the rocket completed its mission.
Why it matters
This event highlights the growing issue of space debris and the challenges of managing orbital trajectories for deep-space missions.
The school-bus-sized object is the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that had launched a lunar lander from Firefly Aerospace toward the moon in January 2025.Weighing 4 tonnes, the rocket body had been due to hit the moon around 2.35am ET (0635 GMT), travelling at 8,690 kph, but none of the spacecraft orbiting the moon were expected to be in a position to capture images of the impact live.The space junk would have kicked up a plume of lunar dust that would likely be illuminated by sunlight, but difficult to spot with the naked eye from Earth. It was likely to be at least several hours before scientists would be able to confirm the crash by studying images from telescopes in the Americas, the BBC reported.The impact was unintentional, SpaceX said.
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