SpaceX rocket stage crashes into moon, creating new crater near Einstein Crater

Story Timeline
1 day · 3 summary articles
SpaceX rocket stage crashes into moon, creating new crater near Einstein Crater
SpaceX rocket debris crashes into moon, creating plume detected by European telescope
ContinuationSpaceX rocket stage to crash into Moon on Wednesday, creating new lunar crater
A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the moon on Tuesday, creating a new crater near Einstein Crater, according to multiple observatories and space agencies. The impact occurred around 2:35 p.m. EDT, with the roughly 9,000-pound rocket stage traveling at approximately 5,400 mph, scientists told The Associated Press .
The rocket stage originated from a Jan. 15, 2025, launch from Florida, carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Resilience modules under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. After deploying its payload, the stage remained in space, where solar activity and gravitational forces altered its trajectory, sending it toward the lunar surface .
South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KASA) released before-and-after images captured by its Danuri lunar orbiter, showing a new shadowed area at the impact site. The agency confirmed the images were taken during eight observation sessions, with the first post-impact data collected on Aug. 5, 2026 .
Telescopes in Chile and Arizona detected a cloud of sodium and lithium rising from the impact site, according to astronomers. Carl Schmidt of Boston University told the AP his team was “100% certain” the observations captured evidence of the crash, while retired astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said the rocket was reduced to “teeny, little pieces” . The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope also confirmed the presence of spectral lines for sodium and lithium in the debris plume .
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea’s Danuri are expected to conduct further observations of the impact site in the coming days. Scientists estimate the crater could measure between 60 and 90 feet wide, with debris potentially scattered up to 525 miles from the impact point .
SpaceX had attempted a maneuver to place the stage in a safe orbit after its mission, but Julianna Scheiman, NASA’s director of scientific programs for SpaceX Dragon capsules, said the combination of solar pressure and gravitational forces ultimately directed it toward the moon . NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies tracked the object’s trajectory and confirmed its lunar impact path .
Follow us for live European news
- 3
- 2
- 2
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
8 further sources not geolocated








