Piece of SpaceX rocket believed to have crashed into the moon
NASA says the 4-metric-ton stage could leave a 60-foot crater and a dust plume, offering scientists a rare chance to study lunar impacts.
- On Wednesday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage struck the Moon's western limb near Einstein Crater at about 5,400 mph, likely creating a 60-foot-wide crater and ejecting lunar dust and rock.
- SpaceX director of NASA science Julianna Scheiman explained that solar activity and gravitational forces pushed the uncontrolled rocket stage toward the Moon after its January 2025 launch required extra thrust.
- Astronomy software creator Bill Gray noted the impact highlights "a certain carelessness about how leftover space hardware is disposed of," though the collision poses no threat to Earth.
- NASA plans to collect data from the impact to study lunar geology and debris behavior, utilizing observations similar to intentional crashes conducted in the 1970s and 2009 to improve future exploration models.
- To protect the Artemis program's planned lunar base, NASA and SpaceX are discussing ways to prevent future lunar impacts as routine astronaut missions begin later this decade.
393 Articles
393 Articles
Column: Ua ʻulupā ʻia ka ʻili o ka mahina | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Synopsis: A spacecraft has crashed into the moon and many in the science community want to investigate the outcome, in the pursuit of knowledge. I am skeptical of the reasons for doing this. We should focus on keeping the moon clean, and avoid doing what we have done on Earth.
The only natural satellite on Earth has gained another crater, this time made by a SpaceX rocket, which went there to stop unintentionally. It's another example of space trash and, at the same time, an opportunity to do science.
First photos of SpaceX lunar rocket crash show blackened hole torn into the moon's surface
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SpaceX Explains Why One of Its Falcon 9 Second Stages Crashed Into the Moon
With rocket launches and daring space missions almost a daily occurrence in our time, it’s hard to keep people interested in space exploration. On Wednesday, though, a lot of people turned their attention to the Moon, which was impacted by a leftover Falcon 9 upper stage that once flew for SpaceX. The hardware in question was part of the rocket that, back in early 2025, launched from pad 39A in Florida the Firefly Aerospace
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 wasn't the first rocket to crash into the moon. Here's a rundown
A spent rocket body hitting the moon made headlines this week, but the reality is that the unplanned collision by a SpaceX upper stage was just the latest in a long history of human-made objects meeting their end by impacting the lunar surface.Astronomers around the world kept their telescopes trained on the moon early Wednesday morning (Aug. 5), when the rocket stage from a January 2025 U.S. commercial lunar landing mission was calculated to st…
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