(AP PHOTO) Credit: AAPA SpaceX rocket that launched a pair of lunar landers slammed into the moon as predicted after drifting off course for the past year, scientists say. Space tracking experts said it was inevitable that the leftover rocket segment ploughed into the moon. Weighing 4000kg, the rocket body had been due to hit the moon about 4.35pm AEST on Wednesday, travelling at 8690km/h. In 2022, a Chinese rocket unintentionally hit the moon following a lunar mission, and many more stray rocket pieces likely struck the moon in decades past without scientists' knowledge. "There's no doubt in my mind" that the rocket "is now in teeny, little pieces scattered over the moon near Einstein Crater," McDowell told the Associated Press.