A SpaceX rocket part traveling at 5,400mph is crashing into the Moon tomorrow
Part of a SpaceX rocket that is traveling at a whopping 5,400mph is just hours away from crash landing on the Moon.
The rocket part is expected to make impact with the lunar surface tomorrow (August 5) after it has been floating in space since the Falcon 9 rocket launch back in January 2025.
Since then, the scrap has been slowly dragged closer and closer towards the Moon, where it will finally crash this week.
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The rocket part is around the same height as a five-storey building and weighs 4,900kg, and according to the Associated Press, it was never SpaceX’s intention to crash it into the Moon.
How will the SpaceX rocket crash impact the Moon?
So, will the crash damage our Moon? Well, the lunar rock is no stranger to being hit by space rocks and it will likely go ‘unnoticed’.
This is according to astronomer Dr Ed Bloomer from the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London, who told Metro: “In fact, it will likely go unnoticed in the UK. While the rocket part colliding with the lunar surface is quite a large piece of kit, and it is moving at a fairly impressive speed, it is certainly not going to cause any problems.
“After all, the moon is pretty large and desolate, and we know precisely where and when the collision will occur.”
Astronomers will be studying the collision closely
The collision will become closely followed by experts who plan to use it to teach them about the risks astronauts can expect if spending extended periods of time on the Moon.
Speaking to CBC, astronomer Ben Fernando, with the Los Alamos National Laboratory, explained: “Now that we’re in an era where we’re going to have more and more astronauts going back to the moon, perhaps permanently, we also want to understand how much of a risk these artificial impacts pose.”
He added: “It presents a different set of hazards than say the Apollo astronauts faced on the lunar surface from the average background meteoroids that are striking the moon every day. And what we want to try and do with this event is understand both the direct [and indirect] hazards.”
Many people have reacted to the news on social media, with one user writing on Reddit: “NASA has intentionally redirected spent rockets to impact the moon in the past, usually to perform seismic mapping using the shockwaves or perform other scientific studies.”
And another added: “A billion years from now the only proof we ever existed will probably be on the moon.”