Why Did a SpaceX Rocket Crash Into the Moon?
A spent Falcon 9 upper stage (the rocket’s second-stage booster, not the entire vehicle) crashed into the Moon on August 5, 2026, after drifting through space for nineteen months since its January 2025 launch. The impact struck near Einstein Crater at 2:34 a.m. ET, hitting the surface at roughly 5,400 miles per hour while astronomers…