SpaceX rocket piece believed to have crashed into Moon

scienceAug 5, 202616600

A four-tonne piece of a discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage is believed to have unintentionally struck the Moon on Wednesday, crashing at about 5,400 mph at roughly 6.35am BST. The booster section, described as the size of a building, was left in space after a January 2025 launch that sent a Firefly Aerospace lunar lander toward the Moon and had dumped its remaining fuel. NASA predicted the impact would carve a crater about 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep and eject a miles-long plume of lunar dust visible only with telescopes and cameras. Astronomers had only recently determined the stage’s uncontrolled trajectory would end at the Moon, with SpaceX’s Julianna Scheiman saying solar activity and gravity put it on a lunar path. Bill Gray, author of widely used astronomy software, said the collision may offer minor scientific interest and highlights concerns about disposal of leftover space hardware. NASA spokesperson Jimi Russell said the event posed no danger to Earth and that NASA scientists plan to image the site before and after impact to study artificial impacts and crater formation.

Paul Bassett Davies

@thewritertype.bsky.social

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore. When your SpaceX rocket hits the moon like a big piece of junk and you don't give a shit, you're a moron.

2712h ago

Sweetiesue1111 6

Not happy with just polluting the earth, Ketamine Man sets his sights on the moon... 🙄

Tom Owens4

SpaceX has put so much junk into space I'm amazed we can still launch anything without running into it.

Fiona3

He’s destroying earth and now also the moon

Carrie Cohen Actor2

Have you read John Scalzi's novel "When The Moon Hits Your Eye " ? Wonderful stuff.

timminycricket78.bsky.social1

did Deano change the tune??

Daydreamer1

I’m going to start lunar landfill service, where all of your discarded space junk finds a home in a respectable out of sight out of mind location, just fill our bins and you’ll win with unbelievable views of Earth 🌍. Don’t let your unsightly radioactive waste spoil the day.

Carl Quintanilla

@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

(AFP) - A four-ton piece of a SpaceX rocket was believed to have unintentionally crashed into the Moon on Wednesday .. @afp.com $SPCX www.yahoo.com/news/science...

1542h ago

Lawrence16

From the same guy who eliminated billions of dollars in social services from Americans

Mourna Lisa14

tech bros will kills us all.

Keith7

I know the moon is already cratered, but it still bothers me that some trillionaire can unilaterally fuck with it like this.

Brad Groatman7

Can't tell you how many times I bump into the moon by accident. I just keep forgetting it's there.

Mash6

Elmo installed Tesla’s Autopilot on the rocket.

Lee Murray (she/her)4

So illegal immigrant/Nazi creep Elon Musk is now damaging the moon as well as this planet? Fabulous! 🤬😖

Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis

@jeffjarvis.bsky.social

Elon crashes on the moon. SpaceX rocket thought to have crashed into the moon in unintentional collision www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

342h ago

Regina Schrambling 1

He’s the world’s most dangerous welfare queen.

Barry Graubart1

While the SPCX stock crashes here on earth.

Quoting this

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy12

Wut? (Also how? Isn’t the trajectory of the moon well established?) 🚀🌔

Carolyn E Holmes2

“Shoot for the moon. If you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”** **and if you don’t, you’ll be Elon Musk.

Missing The Point

@missingthept.bsky.social

Having successfully achieved its first part-of-rocket Moon landing, SpaceX forecasts a parts-of-people Moon landing by 2030.

402h ago

The Daily Beast

@thedailybeast.bsky.social

A part of one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets is believed to have smashed into the moon at 5,400 MPH.

222h ago

Tex “Now Ya Done Pissed Me Off” Prinster4

Let’s put himself on the next one.

Kev🇬🇧🍺1

Hope it was unmanned because the doors probably automatically locked just prior to impact.

Scott Horton

@robertscotthorton.bsky.social

Another huge win for SpaceX: Four-tonne piece of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket believed to have hit lunar surface on Wednesday at 5,400 miles an hour www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

131h ago

Business Insider

@businessinsider.com

As an abandoned SpaceX rocket crashes into the moon, Elon Musk's science-fiction ambitions are on their own collision course with Wall Street. https://bit.ly/45bMgt5

92h ago

General Strike

@ivanasstaircam.bsky.social

His SpaceX junk is hitting the moon cause he can’t get any on Earth.

151h ago

AFP News Agency

@en.afp.com

🚀 🌕 🇺🇸 A four-tonne piece of a SpaceX rocket is believed to have unintentionally crashed into the Moon on Wednesday, a collision that posed no danger to Earth but is expected to leave behind a lunar crater ➡️ u.afp.com/SHTu

File photo shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience lunar landers, lifting off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 15, 2025

112h ago

🦋Julie M., MD (ER)🦋🩺🇺🇦2

So this neo nazi has begin to pollute also the moon...

~Art+Rage~1

that dumbass with the chainsaw contributes nothing but chaos and destruction in everything he does

Angelo

@angetri.bsky.social

Confirmation of the impact of the SpaceX #Falcon9 rocket's second stage (launched in January 2025) near the Einstein lunar crater has come from the Paranal Observatory in Chile. More real-time information can be found on the BBC website: www.bbc.com/news/live/cr...

52h ago

Lord Jeffrey of Nottingham #FBPE 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 🇬🇱

@onemoregoodman.bsky.social

So now Musk has even managed to fuck up the moon.

32h ago

Champie

@champierth.bsky.social

Honestly officer, that moon pulled out on me as I was going past. star_wars_thats_no_moon.gif

82h ago

Sean

@stholeary.bsky.social

SpaceX crashed a rocket into the moon. Just awesome. Elon is apparently tired of only destroying this planet. What a loser.

61h ago

RTÉ News

@news.rte.ie

A SpaceX rocket piece floating in space since last year is expected to have smashed into the Moon at high speed early this morning, though the impact was unlikely to be confirmed for at least several more hours

33h ago

Nolan Principles Matter. End the #GazaGenocide💔💙

@philildo.bsky.social

Jennifer Millard: 'Imagine if that was to hit a crewed lunar base' 🤔 R5 news glibly saying that stuff crashes into the moon all the time - so why the hell would there be a manned station on the moon? www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr...

31h ago

3 sources

theguardian.comSpaceX rocket thought to have crashed into the moon in unintentional collision rte.iePiece of SpaceX rocket believed to have crashed into Moon aljazeera.comPiece of SpaceX rocket the size of a school bus crashes into the Moon

SpaceX rocket piece believed to have crashed into Moonscience

SpaceX rocket piece believed to have crashed into Moon

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