Why A School Bus-Sized SpaceX Rocket Crashed Into The Moon

A SpaceX rocket junk, weighing 4 tonnes and the size of a school bus crashed on the Moon on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported, citing tracking data. The debris’ impact created a new crater on the moon, while SpaceX maintained the impact was unintentional.

The junk was SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage which was launched from Firefly Aerospace toward the moon in January 2025. According to Reuters, no spacecraft orbiting the moon would be in the position to capture the images of the impact on the surface.

However, orbiters will survey the ejected dust plume and take high-resolution images of the newly formed crater.

How Did The Rocket End Up Hitting The Moon?

The debris was second stage of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched in January 2025. It struck near the Einstein Crater at approximately 8,700 kilometres per hour, almost with the force of 3 tonnes of TNT, as per Al Jazeera. The mission is deemed succesful and the rocket stage completed its job.

Usually, such rocket hardware re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, burn up or splashdown into remote ocean zones. But, this one altered its flight path in 18 months due to gravitational forces exerted by the Sun, Earth and Moon. SpaceX said the trajectory it took was unpreventable, given the vehicle’s fuel reserves.

Why Are Scientists Interested?

Space ​junk impacts on the moon ⁠are rare. In 2009, NASA intentionally crashed a rocket stage into the moon to study the plume of lunar material kicked up by the impact. The first such unintended incident occurred on March 4, 2022, when part of a Chinese Long March 3C rocket launched in 2014 impacted the lunar far side, carving out an unusual double crater.

“What has happened is essentially a mixture of solar activity and gravity forces have put it on a path toward the moon,” Julianna Scheiman, SpaceX ‌director of NASA science and Dragon programmes, told reporters on Monday.

What Does It Mean For Space Debris?

Space tracking expert Bill Gray told The Associated Press that the crash does not indicate any danger. But cautioned about the space debris. He said, “It doesn’t present any immediate danger, though it does highlight a certain carelessness about how leftover space hardware is disposed of.”

NASA and SpaceX are in talks about how to prevent future lunar impacts, as the US will be launching the Artemis program later. They plan to send astronaut missions and build a lunar base there, which they want to keep safe from the impacts.