Overview
- The discarded Falcon 9 second stage struck the Moon on Aug. 5, 2026, after more than a year in a high‑energy, unstable orbit that evolved under Earth, Sun and lunar gravity.
- NASA and independent trackers confirmed the impact and said it poses no danger to Earth while using the event as a training opportunity for cislunar monitoring.
- Lunar orbiters including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea’s Danuri, plus ground telescopes, were tasked to collect pre‑ and post‑impact images to measure crater size and ejecta.
- Scientists estimate the collision released energy comparable to about three tonnes of TNT and will likely make a crater on the order of tens of meters across, giving a rare case where mass, speed and angle are known.
- The accidental strike, first predicted by independent tracker Bill Gray, has renewed calls for better tracking and clearer end‑of‑life rules for objects in cislunar space as lunar activity increases.