{"id":5009,"date":"2026-08-06T04:41:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T04:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5009"},"modified":"2026-08-06T04:41:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T04:41:49","slug":"things-are-going-to-get-a-lot-busier-near-the-moon-elon-musk-rocket-crashes-as-predicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5009","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Things are going to get a lot busier near the moon\u2019: Elon Musk rocket crashes as predicted"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Although no one observed the actual 5,400-mph (8,700-kph) collision, a telescope in Chile spotted what astronomers have identified as the debris plume resulting from the crash. Space tracking experts said it was inevitable that the leftover rocket segment plowed into\u00a0the moon.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5007\">\u2018No choice but to take necessary countermeasures\u2019: China imposes sanctions on Washington in retaliation to U.S. trade restrictions<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the latest instance of lunar litter, a problem that many fear could worsen as the U.S. and China race to put astronauts\u00a0on the moon. 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\u2019 knowledge.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Julianna Scheiman said this week that the company is working with NASA to avoid future wrecks, stressing that this projected crash was not deliberate. A combination of solar activity and gravity accidentally put it on a collision course with the moon, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Boston University\u2019s Carl Schmidt said he is \u201c100% certain\u201d that his team\u2019s observations revealed signs of the lunar crash. The European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope detected a stream of sodium and lithium stretching for miles (tens of kilometers) into space for at least five to 10 minutes following the impact, he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have images of the impact\u201d but there\u2019s telescope evidence, Schmidt said in an email.<\/p>\n<p>Even before signs of the debris plume were spotted by the telescope in Chile, retired astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell noted that observations of the dead 4-ton upper stage on Tuesday night showed it heading straight for the moon. The anticipated crash site was a dusty, barren patch near Einstein Crater on the moon\u2019s sunlit western limb \u2014 near the edge of the near and far sides, which is especially difficult to observe from Earth.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in my mind\u201d that the rocket \u201cis now in teeny, little pieces scattered over the moon near Einstein Crater,\u201d McDowell told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a physicist, I know that what goes up must come down,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Stargazers knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, from the ground to see the plume of dust and rock ejected from the resulting crater, let alone the flash of light from the impact. Orbiting spacecraft had the best chance of witnessing anything \u2014 or at least observing the crater after the fact.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5005\">After losing to Whitmer by 21 points, El-Sayed triumphs in Michigan and shocks Democratic Party<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek was among those aiming his telescope at the moon at the appointed time, but he came up empty.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe knew this would be a long shot,\u201d Langbroek said.<\/p>\n<p>Like McDowell, Langbroek said he had \u201cno doubt\u201d the rocket met its doom.<\/p>\n<p>Visual confirmation, McDowell noted, will have to wait for\u00a0NASA\u2019s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter\u00a0to fly over the crash scene and send back photos of the impact crater. The space agency doesn\u2019t expect that to happen until next week.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcon rocket\u2019s upper stage \u2014 a fat cylinder more than 40 feet (12 meters) long \u2014 hoisted two private lunar landers from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 15, 2025. It ended up adrift after putting\u00a0Firefly Aerospace\u2019s Blue Ghost\u00a0and\u00a0ispace\u2019s Resilience\u00a0on course for the moon. Resilience wrecked, but Blue Ghost aced its touchdown, becoming the first private spacecraft to do so.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The moon is the new go-to destination in space, with NASA envisioning a stampede of robotic craft over the next several years to form the foundation for a sustainable lunar base. Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin will provide the lunar landers for NASA\u2019s Artemis astronauts.<\/p>\n<p>Musk\u2019s Starship is making steady progress in test flights from Texas. Bezos\u2019 Blue Moon lander has yet to launch. One or both landers will take part in next year\u2019s Artemis III, a docking rehearsal in orbit around Earth. A lunar touchdown by astronauts \u2014 the first since NASA\u2019s Apollo moonshots \u2014 could follow as soon as 2028.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThings are going to get a lot busier near the moon,\u201d McDowell said. \u201cAt that point an impact like this on the lunar surface plowing up huge amounts of dust going for hundreds of miles around is not going to be acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5003\">SpaceX created a new class of ultrawealthy. Here\u2019s what comes next<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s no doubt in my mind&#8221; that the rocket \u201cis now in teeny, little pieces scattered over the moon,&#8221; said astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spacex"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Things are going to get a lot busier near the moon\u2019: Elon Musk rocket crashes as predicted - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5009\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Things are going to get a lot busier near the moon\u2019: Elon Musk rocket crashes as predicted - 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