SpaceX rocket upper stage collides with the Moon's surface; images may take days to arrive

The upper stage of a SpaceX rocket is likely to have struck the Moon’s surface horizontally yesterday morning, in an incident that poses no threat to Earth but is expected to leave a crater on the lunar surface. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) did not capture an immediate, direct image of the moment the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket collided with the Moon. It explained that obtaining images of the impact site and confirming it would require time to compare pre- and post-impact images using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the South Korean spacecraft Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, noting that image availability would take several days, according to the BBC. Scientists and amateur astronomers had hoped to observe the cloud of dust, rocks, and debris resulting from the impact, illuminated by the Sun. Benjamin Fernando, a researcher at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told Agence France-Presse: “We do not yet know how bright this phenomenon will be, and that is one of the reasons we want to study this event.” NASA spokesperson Jimmy Russell, in a statement received by AFP, “confirmed there is no risk to Earth,” adding, “NASA will continue to track the rocket upper stage for training purposes, and then monitor the impact site for scientific purposes.”