SpaceX rocket set for unintentional Moon landing – well, a piece of it anyway
A Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage, launched in January 2025 to deliver lunar landers, is on a trajectory to unintentionally collide with the Moon in August 2026. The object, designated 2025-10D, has been orbiting Earth for over a year and will strike the Moon at high speed. Astronomer Bill Gray, using his own software, predicts the impact but notes it poses no danger to Earth.
- ▪The Falcon 9 upper stage launched on January 15, 2025, to deploy the Blue Ghost and Hakuto-R lunar landers.
- ▪The upper stage remained in orbit after the mission and is now on a collision course with the Moon.
- ▪The impact is predicted for August 5, 2026, and will occur at several times the speed of sound.
- ▪The object, known as 2025-10D, orbits Earth every 26 days with a highly elliptical path extending beyond the Moon's distance.
- ▪Bill Gray of Project Pluto used orbital tracking software to project the Moon impact, emphasizing concerns about space debris.
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Science SpaceX rocket set for unintentional Moon landing – well, a piece of it anyway But unlike most junkers, it'll be traveling faster than the speed of sound, claims astronomy software dev Richard Speed Fri 1 May 2026 // 11:15 UTC An astronomy software dev claims a Falcon 9 upper stage will hit the Moon in August, traveling at several times the speed of sound. The upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket used to launch the Blue Ghost and Hakuto-R lunar lander is set to have its own close encounter with the Moon after loitering in orbit for more than a year, claims astronomer Bill Gray of Project Pluto, who posted a commentary on the object. It is his software that projected the August 5 impact. The Falcon 9 was launched on January 15, 2025, on a mission to send a pair of landers to the Moon.
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