A piece of a SpaceX rocket which has been floating in space since last year was believed to have crashed into the moon at high speed on Wednesday. The rocket segment was expected to hit the moon around 2:35am ET (06:35 GMT) on Wednesday, crashing into the surface at 5,400mph (8,690km/h). A Chinese rocket segment crashed into the moon in March 2022 after completing a lunar test mission. In 2009, NASA intentionally crashed a rocket segment into the moon to study the plume of lunar material kicked up by the impact. In the 1970s, NASA also intentionally crashed stages ⁠from its Saturn V moon rocket into the moon to study the impact’s seismic effects.