A SpaceX rocket likely crashed on the moon

A malfunctioning piece of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is believed to have impacted the lunar surface, according to NASA. The agency and Elon Musk's space company had been monitoring the upper stage of the rocket, which was launched last year to carry Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander. Astronomers identified the object using public data, with confirmation of the impending impact later confirmed by NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

The estimated weight of the rocket section is around 4,000 kilograms (8,000 pounds). NASA stated that solar activity and gravitational forces caused the upper stage to deviate and land on the moon. The impact is predicted to create a crater approximately 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep near the Einstein and Bell craters. While the event poses no danger to Earth, NASA has described the crash as a "technically accepted and safe method," providing valuable insights into object tracking in space and the moon's geology.