By Ashley Strickland, CNN(CNN) — Part of a SpaceX rocket traveling at more than 5,000 miles per hour crashed into the moon early Wednesday morning. “But for high energy missions, we need to perform a different maneuver to ensure the second stage itself is safe per the appropriate rules and regulations,” Scheiman said. NASA is planning to create a more sustained human presence on the lunar surface through the Artemis program. But impacts from artificial objects like the Falcon 9 upper stage have only occurred a handful of times, according to the study. But the moon has no air to protect its surface, Wiegert noted.