Stray SpaceX Rocket Stage Believed To Have Crashed Into The Moon

Stray SpaceX Rocket Stage Believed to Have Crashed Into the Moon

A large piece of a discarded SpaceX rocket is believed to have slammed into the Moon after more than a year drifting through space, marking one of the rare instances of an unintended human made object impacting the lunar surface. Scientists say the collision occurred early Wednesday, although confirmation will require analysis of images from telescopes and lunar spacecraft.

The object is a Falcon 9 upper-stage rocket, weighing about four metric tons and roughly the size of a school bus. It was launched in January 2025 to carry Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander and ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 2 before being left in a trajectory that eventually intersected with the Moon. Traveling at approximately 8,700 kilometres per hour 5,400 mph, the rocket stage is believed to have struck near Einstein Crater on the Moon’s far western limb.

Because the impact occurred near the Moon’s edge from Earth’s perspective and on a sunlit section of the surface, astronomers were unable to observe it directly in real time. Researchers are now examining telescope observations and data from lunar orbiters in hopes of identifying a fresh crater and studying the cloud of dust and debris created by the collision. Scientists say the event poses no danger to Earth but provides a rare opportunity to study high-speed impacts on the Moon and better understand how human-made debris behaves beyond Earth’s orbit. The incident has also renewed discussions about the growing challenge of managing space junk as governments and private companies expand lunar exploration missions. The accidental collision is only the second widely documented case of a discarded rocket stage unintentionally striking the Moon, following a similar impact by a Chinese rocket body in 2022. Space agencies and commercial operators are increasingly exploring ways to prevent abandoned spacecraft from becoming long-term hazards as activity in cislunar space continues to grow.