A four-tonne, school-bus-sized piece of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket slammed into the lunar surface early Wednesday. The second stage of the rocket, which had been floating in space since last year after launching lunar landers from Firefly Aerospace in January 2025, struck the moon at a speed of 5,400 miles per hour.
NASA spokespeople confirmed that the unintentional collision poses no danger to Earth. Although the impact will not be visible to the naked eye, photos of the event are expected to be provided by a lunar satellite at a later time.
Scientists are verifying the impact of the 8,800-pound section to study crater formation and lunar dust from cosmic impacts. NASA will continue to observe the resulting crater for scientific research and training purposes.