SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage to hit Moon's Einstein crater
The discarded upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched last year with lunar landers on board, is now drifting through space and is expected to crash into the Moon on August 5, 2026.
The impact will happen near the Einstein crater and, thankfully, won't cause any harm to Earth.
Asteroid surveys tracked rocket 1,000 times
Several asteroid surveys have tracked this rocket more than 1,000 times, noting its path is shaped by gravity from Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.
The rocket will hit at about 2.41km per second, pretty fast.
This isn't the first time space junk has hit the Moon; a similar event in 2022 sparked worries about lunar pollution as the US and China become more serious about establishing a human presence on the Moon.
This time, though, Bill Gray says the impact should be easier to predict and monitor.