A stray piece of a SpaceX rocket is travelling through space at about 5,400mph (8,690 km/hr) and is on course to collide with the Moon
Impact is expected anytime from now - here's how we got here
The crash won't be visible to the naked eye, but people with access to a sophisticated telescope may see a flash from the lunar surface
In a statement, Nasa spokesperson Jimi Russell says the collision "poses no danger to Earth"
An estimated one million kilograms of debris will blast into space after the 4,000kg (8,800 lb) rocket part makes impact
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched in January 2025, with its upper section - now headed for the Moon - being discarded
Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent
According to the scientists studying this impact, the SpaceX rocket should by now have crashed into the Moon.
The crash will be confirmed by telescopes in the Americas monitoring the event.
We'll bring you more on the collision as we get it.
Image source, EPA/ShutterstockSpaceX's Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured for, what the company calls "the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond".
This specific rocket was launched as part of a US and Japanese mission to carry a pair of lunar landers and scientific equipment to the Moon last year.
Part of the Falcon 9 is reusable and designed to return back to Earth for its next mission. But some parts of the rocket are shed in space and remain there, stuck in orbit unless they eventually collide with another celestial body.
According to Nasa's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the upper stage (section) of one of rockets will "impact" the Moon.
The US space agency reached the conclusion after independent astronomers, using public data, noted that a portion of the rocket from a January 2025 launch was on an accidental collision course with the Moon.
The piece in question is about the size of a five-storey building, with a weight on Earth of at least 4,000kg.
Image source, ReutersThe SpaceX object will land near the Einstein crater, which is on the part of the Moon that receives daylight and is visible from Earth, according to astronomer Bill Gray.
But experts say ordinary eyes on Earth will not be able to see the impact itself.
Instead, people with access to a sophisticated telescope may be able to see a flash radiating off the Moon's surface.
Big telescopes in the Americas, plus Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea's Danuri probe, will track the flash, plume and new crater, and a citizen‑science project is signing up keen amateurs to film the impact too.
By catching the dust plume in action, astronomers hope to turn this accidental crash into a useful experiment.
Libby Jackson
Head of space at the Science Museum
This commission is exciting for scientists, because we know it's happening, and we know the speed and the mass of the rocket stage that will crash into the Moon.
We don't normally know that for meteors that crash into the Moon every day.
That means scientists will have a lot more information as they study the debris that will be caused by the collision.
By studying the light that is reflected from that material, scientists can determine its composition - helping them understand how the Moon has developed and how planetary systems evolved and were formed billions of years ago.
Matt Bothwell, astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge
The collision between the Moon and a drifting SpaceX rocket is not thought to be dangerous, including to Earth, according to experts.
Nasa spokesperson Jimi Russel says while Nasa will continue to observe the site of impact for scientific purposes, "there is no danger to Earth".
Nasa scientists are planning to collect lunar data from the event and refine techniques for tracking objects in space.
"It's something really huge smashing into the Moon. It's not remotely dangerous, we can just watch the show," says Dr Matt Bothwell, public astronomer at the University of Cambridge.
Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent
The story began in January last year, when a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida carrying two lunar landers into space.
The rocket's job was to fire its upper stage hard enough to send both landers out of Earth orbit and onto a path towards the Moon, and it succeeded.
But the spent stage was left drifting in a long, looping orbit that swung it out towards the Moon and back again.
Over the following 18 months, the gentle gravitational tug of the Earth, Moon and Sun - along with even the faint push of sunlight itself - gradually altered its path.
Astronomers tracking the object eventually worked out that those small nudges had put it on a course toward the Moon, picking up speed by the day and heading for an almighty crash.
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesA stray piece of a SpaceX rocket that has been hurtling in orbit at around 2.43 kilometres per second (about 5,400mph) is expected to collide with the Moon.
It's the upper section of a Falcon 9 spacecraft, about the size of a five-storey building and weighing at least 4,000kg.
The collision, according to US space agency Nasa, is predicted to happen at about 07:35 BST.
Experts say it will not be visible from Earth with the naked eye, but people with access to a sophisticated telescope may be able to see a flash radiating off the Moon's surface.
It is also not thought to be dangerous - including to Earth - with scientists instead considering this to be a unique opportunity to study what happens when an object hits the Moon.
Stick with us as we bring you the latest updates and expert analysis on what this all means.
