A discarded upper stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is on course to strike the Moon on August 5, 2026, in a rare instance of human-made debris colliding with the lunar surface in full view of tracking telescopes on Earth.
What Is The Falcon 9 Upper Stage?
The Falcon 9 is SpaceX’s two-part workhorse rocket. The lower, first stage powers the vehicle off the launch pad before separating and returning to Earth for reuse. The upper stage, or second stage, carries payloads the rest of the way into orbit or onward into deep space, then is typically discarded once its job is done. In this case, the stage completed its mission in January 2025, boosting Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander and ispace’s Resilience spacecraft toward the Moon.
Why Is It Hitting The Moon?
With its fuel exhausted, the spent stage had no way to steer itself into a safe, controlled disposal. Instead, it was left drifting in an elongated orbit around Earth. Over the following eighteen months, the combined pull of Earth’s, the Moon’s and the Sun’s gravity, along with the faint but persistent push of sunlight on its tumbling frame, nudged it steadily onto a collision path with the Moon.
Current tracking places the impact near Einstein Crater, on the Moon’s near side, at roughly 06:35 UTC on August 5. The stage, about 12 metres long and weighing close to 4,000 kilograms, is expected to slam into the surface at approximately 8,700 km/h, nearly seven times the speed of sound.
What Happens On Impact?
Because the stage is largely hollow, it is expected to crumple rather than dig deep, gouging out a fresh crater estimated at 20 to 30 metres wide. The collision should also throw up a plume of lunar dust rising several kilometres above the surface, along with a brief flash at the moment of impact.
Astronomers and space agencies are keeping a close eye on the event. It’s a rare shot at watching crater formation and impact dynamics unfold in real time, and researchers plan to use it to test out methods for pinning down impact locations work that could feed into future lunar seismic studies. Down the line, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter may swing by overhead and photograph the fresh crater.
Also Read: What Is Amasia? Scientists Explain How Earth’s Next Supercontinent May Emerge amid Shrinking Pacific
Khushi Patel is a Senior Sub Editor at NewsX, covering automotive, technology, Lifestyle, entertainment, and mainstream news. She previously worked as a Copy Editor at Times Network and has written automotive editorial content, including comparison pieces, for TimesDrive.
