SpaceX's Wandering Falcon 9 Rocket Has Crashed Into The Moon

Key Points:

• Independent astronomer Bill Grey predicted in April that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket would crash into the moon on August 5, and scientists now believe the collision has occurred, confirmed by observations of a sodium and lithium gas plume from Chile's Very Large Telescope.
• The impact, which happened on the sunlit side of the moon, was difficult to observe directly due to brightness, but NASA estimates the four-ton rocket created a crater about 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep after striking the lunar surface at 5,400 mph.
• NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea's Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter plan to image the crash site, though success depends on lighting, timing, and could take several days to receive and analyze the images.
• The Falcon 9 upper stage came from the January 2025 Blue Ghost mission and could not perform a controlled deorbit due to fuel constraints, leading to an unintended lunar impact influenced by solar activity and gravity.
• Despite concerns about space debris, NASA considers disposing of upper rocket stages on the lunar surface a safe and sometimes necessary practice for missions in low lunar orbit.