SpaceX rocket crashes into moon at 'seven times the speed of sound'

A part of the huge SpaceX rocket is believed to have crashed into the moon after travelling a 'seven times the speed of sound'. NASA is now preparing to study the crash which was expected to be equivalent to an explosion of three tonnes of TNT.

According to the scientists studying the impact, the wayward section of Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket should by now have hit into the moon. It comes after the rocket was first launched back in 2025 and has since been drifting through space. The abandoned rocket segment, measuring some 40 feet, hoisted two private lunar landers on January 15 2025.

The impact was expected at around 7.35am UK time (2.35am ET), with space tracking expert Bill Gray predicting an impact speed of 5,400 mph, which is seven times the speed of sound. Space experts are now waiting to monitor the results - but this could take days.

Space experts were monitoring the moon ahead of impact (Daniel Yovkov / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images)

Although the crater created from the smash will be too small to be seen by the naked eye, it is expected to still be around 20 to 30 metres wide, as a direct result of being struck by the SpaceX equipment.

It was revealed earlier this week that the rocket’s upper stage would unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday morning (5 August), sending up a plume of dust and rubble that scientists are eager to observe.

While scientists are not too concerned about this particular piece of space junk, specialists say it highlights the growing threat as more and more items cram into orbit. “Things are getting crowded up there,” said Mr Gray, who plans to view the aftermath from New Brunswick, Canada.

A Spacex Falcon 9 rocket flies into space after lifting off (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

It was never SpaceX’s intent to hit the moon, but space experts said the crash could have been avoided if the upper stage had been nudged into orbit around the sun. It will mark the second dead rocket known to crash into the moon accidentally. A Chinese rocket segment dug out a pair of craters on the lunar far side in 2022.

The impact flash, lasting less than a second, was also believed to have been too dim to see, according to experts, but the stream of ejected material could stretch for several miles into space and could be seen with specialist equipment and will be monitored this week.

“The gravity on the moon is low and there is no wind to blow the dust away,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Benjamin Fernando, who is encouraging observations by professionals and amateurs alike. “Part of the reason for our interest in this event is to figure out how much of a hazard debris impacts pose to future astronauts,” he added.

Part of the SpaceX rocket is believed to have struck the moon (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

He anticipates an impact crater nearly 90 feet across and 16 feet deep, too small to see from Earth but visible to spacecraft.

Ground telescopes in the United States were watching signs of the explosion, but images may take days to appear. Spacecraft orbiting the moon will also send back images of the crash site back to Earth over the next few days.

What is SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket?

SpaceX's Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured for, what the company says is 'the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond'.

The rocket was launched last year before its 4,000kg upper stage section was then shed in space as planned. However this went on to be involved in the accidental collision with the lunar surface.

SpaceX launched this specific Falcon 9 rocket as part of a US and Japanese mission to carry a pair of lunar landers and specialist equipment to the moon in 2025.

Part of the Falcon 9 rocket is thought to have already struck (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images)

One of the private lunar landers, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, became the first private spacecraft to pull off a fully successful lunar touchdown. The other, Japan-based ispace’s lander, wrecked.

With the moon as the new travel hot spot, scientists have said it is crucial to improve debris monitoring and traffic control before packs of robots and astronauts arrive. The United States and China are racing to land astronauts on the Moon in the next few years.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are vying to provide the lander for Nasa’s yet-to-be-named moonwalkers of Artemis IV, who will succeed the 12 Apollo astronauts who strolled the lunar surface.

This is only the latest of Musk's space projects, as he's also spoken plenty about wanting to settle on Mars one day, while one of his Teslas is still floating around up above the Earth's atmosphere.