SpaceX Rocket Stage Crashes Into the Moon

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage has crashed into the Moon after losing control following its mission. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in January last year, the rocket successfully placed the Blue Ghost and Resilience private lunar landers into lunar orbit before drifting uncontrollably. It eventually struck the Moon near the Einstein Crater on the western side at a speed of nearly 8,700 km/h.

Scientists estimate that the impact released energy equivalent to three tonnes of TNT, creating a new crater measuring about 90 feet in diameter and 16 feet deep. Although NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea's Danuri spacecraft were orbiting the Moon at the time, neither witnessed the impact directly. South Korea's space agency plans to compare images taken before and after the crash to study the newly formed crater.