SpaceX has inadvertently achieved its first lunar impact after a discarded upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket slammed into the Moon at extraordinary speed.

The collision occurred early on Wednesday morning, producing a violent explosion and carving out a crater estimated to be around 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep, though some projections suggest it could measure up to 100 feet across.

SpaceX official Julianna Scheiman said solar activity and gravitational forces had gradually pushed the rocket onto its collision course.

Astronomers had been tracking the rogue rocket stage for months, predicting it would eventually strike the lunar surface. Travelling at 5,400 miles per hour (approx. 8,700 Kmph), roughly seven times the speed of sound on Earth, the impact generated a flash that may have been visible from our planet.

NASA noted that such collisions are not unusual, with impacts of similar energy striking the Moon approximately once every six days.

The Falcon-9 component had been drifting in space for over a year after being jettisoned during a January 2025 mission. That mission successfully delivered two lunar landers, Firefly’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Hakuto‑R, but left the upper stage in a trajectory that eventually intersected with the Moon. By late April, astronomers had confirmed that the debris was on course for a crash landing.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has long promised ambitious lunar programs, including the development of the Starship mega-rocket to transport cargo and astronauts to the Moon.

His vision even includes constructing a lunar base with a factory to produce AI satellites. Yet, despite these aspirations, no SpaceX craft has yet reached lunar orbit or achieved a controlled landing.

The company described the explosion in its familiar euphemism of “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” Because the impact was difficult to observe directly, scientists will need time to analyse the event fully. They hope to gain insights into the physics of ejecta in low gravity, where debris can travel vast distances across the lunar surface.

The Moon itself is no stranger to bombardment. Without an atmosphere to shield it, meteoroids strike daily, leaving countless craters. Human activity has also contributed to lunar scars.

NASA deliberately crashed Saturn-V rocket stages into the Moon during the Apollo missions of the 1970s, and in 2009, it intentionally impacted a rocket part to study the effects.

This latest crash raises renewed concerns about space junk and the disposal of spent rocket stages. Astronomer Bill Gray, who developed the Project Pluto software used to track near‑Earth objects, highlighted the carelessness of leaving hardware adrift. He noted that while the incident poses no danger, it underscores the need for better practices in managing orbital debris.

Scientists will now examine the crater and the material expelled by the explosion. Even if the scientific value is modest, the event provides another opportunity to study impacts in a unique environment. It also serves as a reminder of the challenges posed by space debris as humanity pushes further into deep‑space exploration.

Agencies