A large piece of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to crash into the moon on Wednesday. Bill Gray, who tracks objects in space, says the impact will occur around 2:35 a.m. ET. The rocket part is traveling at over 5,000 miles per hour. It is the upper stage of the rocket, roughly the size of a five-story building. The rocket originally launched in January 2025 carrying two lunar landers and scientific equipment.
The debris will strike the moon's near side in the northwestern region near Einstein Crater. Gray estimates the impact could create a crater at least 17 meters across. SpaceX did not plan for this collision. A NASA spacecraft called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will observe the area before and after the impact. Scientists hope to compare images to measure any changes to the lunar surface.
Whether the impact will be visible from Earth remains unclear. Gray suggests that rock and dust thrown up by the crash might be visible against the dark background of space. However, Fernando, a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, cautions that casual stargazers should not expect to see anything with binoculars. He recommends that people with proper equipment try to observe the event. He notes that such impacts are rare, making this a valuable opportunity for scientists.
Sources: npr.org
The words in bold are from the article.
| 1. crash | a. seeable |
| 2. debris | b. watch |
| 3. strike | c. smash |
| 4. observe | d. wreckage |
| 5. compare | e. hit |
| 6. visible | f. relaxed |
| 7. casual | g. contrast |
| 8. valuable | h. useful |
| 9. equipment | i. tools |
| 10. rare | j. uncommon |
1.c 2.d 3.e 4.b 5.g 6.a 7.f 8.h 9.i 10.j