SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage believed to have impacted the Moon

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage is believed to have crashed into the Moon early on 5 August, marking one of the rare occasions in which a large piece of space debris has unintentionally impacted the lunar surface.

The object, the second stage of a Falcon 9 launched in January 2025 to send a Firefly Aerospace lunar lander towards the Moon, was expected to strike the lunar surface at around 06:35 UTC. Travelling at approximately 8,690 km/h (5,400 mph), the four-tonne rocket stage was predicted to impact near Einstein Crater on the Moon’s western limb.

Because no lunar-orbiting spacecraft were in a position to observe the event directly, confirmation of the impact is expected to come from Earth-based telescopes. Astronomers will search for a plume of dust generated by the collision, although the impact site is difficult to observe from Earth.

According to SpaceX, the collision was entirely unintentional. Unlike missions to low Earth orbit, lunar missions require significantly more energy, leaving the Falcon 9’s upper stage in deep space after completing its mission. Earlier this year, astronomers determined that natural gravitational influences and solar activity had gradually altered its trajectory, placing it on a collision course with 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’s Director of NASA Science and Dragon Programs.

While the impact poses no risk to people or spacecraft, it has renewed attention on the growing challenge of managing space debris beyond Earth orbit. Bill Gray, an astronomer who tracked the object’s trajectory, said the event highlights the need for better disposal of spacecraft hardware after deep-space missions.

Uncontrolled impacts on the Moon remain uncommon. A Chinese Long March rocket stage struck the lunar surface in 2022, while NASA intentionally crashed Saturn V rocket stages into the Moon during the Apollo era to study the seismic effects of impacts. More recently, several lunar landers—including India’s Chandrayaan-2, Israel’s Beresheet, and Russia’s Luna-25—have also crashed during landing attempts.

As NASA prepares to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon through its Artemis programme, the agency and SpaceX are examining ways to prevent future rocket stages and other space debris from unintentionally impacting the lunar surface.