Leftover SpaceX rocket stage to hit moon at 8,700 kph
Heads up: A leftover SpaceX rocket stage is about to slam into the moon this Wednesday at a wild speed of 8,700 kph.
The impact will make a crater nearly 90 feet wide, pretty big, and it's happening on the side of the moon we can actually see from Earth.
This chunk comes from a mission back in January 2025, which launched Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander.
SpaceX stage drifted toward moon accidentally
The rocket was meant to drift safely in space, but ended up heading toward the moon by accident. It carried two landers: Blue Ghost (which made history as the first private spacecraft to pull off a fully successful lunar touchdown) and Japan's ispace lander (which was wrecked).
SpaceX didn't plan for this leftover stage to hit the moon: the collision could have been avoided had the stage been maneuvered into a stable orbit around the Sun.
Telescopes expect visible debris plume
When it smashes into the lunar surface, telescopes will catch a visible plume of debris for several minutes.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea's Danuri orbiter are ready to watch closely.
This is only the second known time an accidental rocket crash has happened on the moon, and researchers see it as a unique chance to learn more about how impacts affect future lunar missions and what happens during high-speed collisions in low gravity.