SpaceX Rocket Stage Crashes on Moon Creating New Crater

On Wednesday morning at 9:35 AM Israel time, a 12-meter, 4,500-kilogram rocket stage from SpaceX crashed onto the Moon, creating a new crater near its illuminated edge. Scientists estimated the impact speed at approximately 8,700 km/h, releasing energy equivalent to about three tons of TNT. SpaceX confirmed the collision was unintentional. While scientists have verified the crash, they await final confirmation from NASA telescopes. No lunar orbiters were positioned to capture the event live, so researchers plan to compare before-and-after surface images to identify the new impact site, a process requiring careful planning and time.

The rocket stage had launched two private lunar landers on January 15, 2025: Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, which successfully landed, and the Japanese company ispace’s lander, which crashed. Experts noted the impact flash would be too faint to see from Earth, but the debris cloud might rise several kilometers and remain visible to telescopes for minutes. Juliana Shiman, NASA’s science program manager and SpaceX Dragon program lead, explained that solar activity and gravity altered the rocket’s trajectory toward the Moon. Bill Gray, an astronomy software developer, said the event poses no danger but highlights the risks of space debris disposal.

This is only the second known accidental rocket stage crash on the Moon, following a Chinese rocket stage impact in 2022. Past deliberate impacts include NASA’s 2009 lunar crash to study ejecta clouds. Several recent lunar landers have also crashed, including Russia’s nuclear-powered Luna 25 in 2023, India’s Chandrayaan-2 in 2019, and Israel’s Beresheet in 2019, which carried microscopic tardigrades possibly still on the Moon. NASA and SpaceX are currently discussing ways to prevent future debris impacts, especially as NASA plans to build a lunar base and conduct regular crewed missions under the Artemis program later this decade, aiming to protect lunar infrastructure from space debris damage.