A piece of SpaceX debris, the second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, is believed to have impacted the moon on Wednesday morning after drifting in space since January 2025. The object, approximately the size of a school bus and weighing 4 metric tons, was expected to hit the moon at a speed of 5,400 miles per hour. The precise moment of impact was unlikely to be immediately confirmed, as spacecraft orbiting the moon were not positioned to capture live images.
Scientists anticipate confirming the crash within several hours by analyzing data and images from telescopes. The impact was unintentional, according to SpaceX. The rocket stage was projected to strike Einstein Crater on the moon's western side, an area often obscured from Earth's view.
Normally, such rocket stages re-enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up or fall into the ocean. However, the lunar lander mission launched in January 2025 required more thrust, leaving the rocket's second stage in orbit. It has since been drifting as space junk.
Astronomers determined earlier this year that the uncontrolled rocket stage, having jettisoned its remaining fuel, was on a trajectory toward the moon. "What has happened is essentially a mixture of solar activity and gravity forces have put it on a path toward the moon," said Julianna Scheiman, SpaceX director of NASA science and Dragon programs. While the impact may hold minor scientific interest, potentially yielding new information, it highlights concerns about the disposal of space hardware. Impacts on the moon from space debris are rare.
In March 2022, a Chinese rocket stage crashed into the moon after a lunar mission. NASA intentionally impacted a rocket stage in 2009 to study the resulting plume of lunar material. Several other lunar missions have ended in crashes in recent years, including Russia's Luna-25 in 2023, India's Chandrayaan-2 and Israel's Beresheet lander in 2019. NASA also intentionally crashed stages from its Saturn V moon rockets in the 1970s for seismic studies.
NASA and SpaceX are reportedly discussing methods to prevent similar future lunar impacts, especially as NASA plans for regular astronaut missions and the establishment of a lunar base later this decade under its Artemis program.