Part of a rocket launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX crashed into the Moon at a speed of approximately 5,400mph, which is seven times faster than the speed of sound.
The component from the Falcon 9 upper stage was equivalent in size to a five-story building and had a weight on Earth of around 4,000kg.
Experts have confirmed that the rocket has collided with the Moon, and this event will be observed and verified by telescopes in the Americas shortly.
The spacecraft, which was part of a joint US-Japanese mission initiated by SpaceX in January 2025, carried two lunar landers to the Moon and is now defunct.
Debris and dust resulting from the impact are anticipated to rise several miles above the Moon’s surface, potentially visible through telescopes from Earth.
Astronomer Bill Gray commented on the collision, expressing expectations to witness flashes and ejected rocks from the crater as a result of the impact.
Observers in the eastern US, Canada, and a significant portion of South America have the best visibility prospects to witness the impact flash from the crash.
This marks the second instance of a spacecraft crashing into the Moon, following a Chinese rocket segment that created two craters on the Moon’s far side in 2022.
Benjamin Fernando from the Los Alamos National Laboratory highlighted the importance of assessing the risks posed by debris impacts on future astronaut missions, predicting the creation of a 90ft wide and 16ft deep crater from the impact.
Although astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell downplayed immediate concerns about this impact, he cautioned about the potential risks of similar incidents for future Moon missions, emphasizing the need to avoid leaving rocket stages in uncontrolled orbits.
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