SpaceX Rocket Piece May Have Crashed Onto Moon

A segment of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched in January 2025, may have unexpectedly crashed onto the moon. Astronomers had calculated the impact to occur on Wednesday morning, with estimates from U.S. astronomer Bill Gray and NASA pointing to the event.

“

But I think he will be very, very hard to see, if not impossible.

This particular piece is the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, developed by Elon Musk's private space company SpaceX. While astronomers had hoped the impact might be visible from Earth, NASA manager William Cooke expressed doubt, stating it would be "very, very hard to see, if not impossible." Currently, there are no indications that any instruments have recorded the potential impact.

Confirmation of the event, or the creation of a crater, will likely require analysis from probes. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled to fly over the calculated impact site in a few days. The Falcon 9 rocket had launched with two lunar landers: Blue Ghost from Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully, and Ispace's Resilience, which failed. The rocket's lower stage returned to Earth.

“

The upper rocket stages normally burn up in Earth's atmosphere on such missions. But for high-energy missions, we have to perform a different maneuver to ensure the upper stage is safe with the corresponding rules and regulations. That happened in this case. What then happened is a mix of solar activity and gravitational forces that put the upper rocket stage on a path toward the Moon.

SpaceX manager Julianna Scheiman explained that upper rocket stages typically burn up in Earth's atmosphere. However, for high-energy missions, a different maneuver is required to ensure the stage's safety according to regulations. "What happened then is a mix of solar activity and gravitational forces that put the upper rocket stage on a path toward the Moon," she said. Although this specific event was unplanned, a lunar impact is generally considered an accepted disposal option, offering a predictable and safe approach for the end of a mission.

“

Also, an impact on the moon is an accepted option for disposal, which provides a predictable, traceable and safe approach to the end of a mission.