Read our Privacy noticeSouth Korean and Chinese satellites have captured unprecedented visuals of an out-of-control SpaceX rocket crashing onto the Moon, creating a crater and unleashing a cloud of dust. The rocket stage is part of a Falcon 9 spacecraft launched in January 2025, which carried a lunar lander to the Moon’s surface. The impact was not planned, with SpaceX confirming that solar activity and gravitational forces drew the rocket’s second stage towards the Moon. The rocket debris reportedly hit the lunar surface at an estimated 8,712 kilometres per hour, according to ATmoto Technology. Nasa scientists said in a study last month the impact offers an “ideal opportunity” to study a lunar impact with a known object in real time.