CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Scientists say a spent SpaceX rocket stage struck the moon Wednesday after drifting off course for more than a year, adding another piece of human-made debris to the lunar surface.
No telescope captured the moment of impact directly, but astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile detected a plume containing sodium and lithium that stretched for miles and lasted about five to 10 minutes. Researchers said the evidence matched the predicted collision.
The roughly 4-ton upper stage was traveling about 5,400 mph when it reached a dusty area near Einstein Crater on the moon’s western limb. The location lies near the boundary between the near and far sides and is difficult to observe from Earth.
The rocket launched from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 15, 2025, carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Resilience lunar landers. After sending the spacecraft toward the moon, the upper stage was left on a trajectory that solar activity and gravity eventually altered into a collision course.
Blue Ghost later completed a successful lunar landing, while Resilience crashed. SpaceX said the rocket-stage impact was not intentional and that the company is working with NASA to reduce the risk of similar events.
Scientists expect NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to photograph the impact area when its path takes it over the site, potentially confirming the new crater and revealing how debris spread across the surface.
The collision renews questions about space debris as more government and private missions travel to the moon. A Chinese rocket stage struck the moon unintentionally in 2022, and researchers believe other untracked hardware may have done the same during earlier decades.
With the United States, China and private companies planning more lunar missions, astronomers say operators will need better tracking and disposal plans to protect spacecraft and future surface activity.
