A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage hit the moon late on Tuesday, creating a fresh impact crater and adding to the growing amount of human-made debris scattered across the lunar surface. Image shows a he Mars Australe lava plain on the Moon taken by Japan’s Kaguya lunar orbiter in November 2007.

JAXA/NHK

A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage hit the moon early on Wednesday, creating a fresh impact crater and adding to the growing amount of human-made debris scattered across the lunar surface. The 45-foot (13.8-meter) upper stage struck the moon at around 5,400 mph (8,700 km/h) after spending almost seven months drifting through space.

The SpaceX rocket crashed at 5,400 miles (8,700 kilometers) per hour, at approximately 2:35 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. Although the impact occurred near Einstein Crater on the moon’s far side in daylight and was not visible from Earth — and posed no danger — it highlights growing concerns about space junk beyond Earth as lunar exploration gathers pace.

The SpaceX rocket crash comes as NASA, China and commercial companies prepare for a new era of lunar exploration — with NASA’s moonbase now being planned — raising fresh questions about how spacecraft should be disposed of once their missions end.

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The Falcon 9 upper stage launched on Jan. 15, 2025, carrying Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 and ispace’s RESILIENCE lunar lander. Blue Ghost successfully landed on the moon on March 2, 2025,, while RESILIENCE crashed on June 4, 2025. After completing its mission, the rocket stage remained in space rather than returning to Earth’s atmosphere.

Astronomers tracked its increasingly unstable orbit before confirming in May that it would collide with the moon. Naming it 2025-010D, researchers estimated the impact would excavate millions of pounds of lunar soil and leave a crater about 89 feet (27 meters) wide.

Although any impact flash was expected to be hidden by the bright sunlit surface, scientists hoped a cloud of ejected dust would briefly rise above the lunar horizon, offering a rare opportunity to study the aftermath of an artificial impact. Scientists are expected to release data on the event in the days and weeks to come.

In 2009, NASA’s LCROSS mission deployed the upper stage of a Centaur rocket to intentionally impact the Moon before crashing into the lunar surface itself. The resulting debris plumes were observed from Earth, and revealed water ice.

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The impact also highlighted growing concerns about space junk beyond Earth as the moon becomes an increasingly crowded destination. About 35,000 objects are now tracked by space surveillance networks, according to the European Space Agency, while the BBC reports there are now around 3,000 human-made objects on the moon weighing a combined 209 tons. These include spent rocket stages, spacecraft, scientific instruments and mission debris left behind since the Soviet Union’s Luna 2 became the first spacecraft to reach the lunar surface in 1959. That includes debris from the NASA’s Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 missions that landed on the moon.

According to Space.com, more than 100 lunar missions are planned over the next decade by government space agencies and commercial companies. Scientists warn that, without better tracking and international rules for disposing of spacecraft, the growing amount of debris could increase collision risks for future robotic missions, eventual lunar bases, and contaminate pristine regions that preserve billions of years of lunar geological history. There’s also a risk that historic Apollo landing sites could be disturbed.

NASA plans to establish a permanent moon base near the lunar south pole through a series of Artemis missions, creating what it describes as an “enduring presence” on the lunar surface. The base is intended to support long-term scientific research, test technologies for living and working beyond Earth, and prepare astronauts for future missions to Mars.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.