An upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, left in orbit after a 2025 mission, is on a collision course with the Moon and is expected to crash into the lunar surface on August 5.
The booster was part of the launch on January 15, 2025, which carried two lunar landers. One of these, the Blue Ghost lander built by Firefly Aerospace, successfully landed on the Moon on March 2, 2025, marking the first privately built spacecraft to achieve a fully successful lunar touchdown. The second lander, the Resilience lander from Japanese company ispace, experienced a crash landing on June 5, 2025, due to a malfunctioning laser range-finder.
Following the release of the two landers into near-Earth space, the Falcon 9's upper stage was intended to move away from the Moon. However, it has remained in orbit and is now set for an uncontrolled impact with the lunar surface. This event is not the first instance of an object crashing into the Moon, nor is it the first lunar crash recorded.