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    Welp, Nobody Saw SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Crash Into the Moon
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    Welp, Nobody Saw SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Crash Into the Moon

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    26 Comments

    1. wiredmagazine on

      The upper stage of a [SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket](https://www.wired.com/story/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-crash-into-moon/) slammed into the moon on Wednesday. But while astronomers hoped to catch a glimpse of the impact, no one seems to have captured images or video.

      The timing of the crash landing was well documented, giving astronomers plenty of time to train their telescopes and instruments on the moon in hopes of [catching a lunar first](https://www.wired.com/story/spacex-falcon-moon-crash-warning-for-lunar-bases/): an impact flash on the lit side of the moon.

      When the time came, though, no observatory managed to obtain a direct image of the collision of the rocket, which was traveling at about 5,400 mph at the time of impact. The strongest evidence of the impact so far comes from an observation made in Chile. According to the [Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/spacex-rocket-moon-crash-elon-musk-d64a98138fd19241700461c87b49e201), scientists using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope detected a stream of sodium and lithium that appeared a few minutes after the predicted time of the collision.

      Read the full story at the link above.

    3. Techngro on

      If a rocket smashes into a moon, and no one is around to hear it…

      Wait…no sound in space. Never mind.

    4. PhantomWhiskers on

      I was watching a livestream last night where someone had 2 telescopes pointed at the moon to try and see the impact, and it ended very anticlimactically when basically nothing happened.

      Do we have any confirmation on where it impacted yet? I’m wondering if it hit just too far beyond the moon’s horizon so we couldn’t see it.

    7. TeamHitmarks on

      Someone should tell Trump to nuke the moon in a show of force. Then we can get some cool telescope footage. (Please God, I am joking, do not let this come true 🙏😭)

    8. mid-by-midwest on

      Are there any functional seismometers on the moon right now? That is the sort of thing I would ask NASA about if I were a writer for Wired.

    9. Su-37_Terminator on

      Well fear not! There’s another significantly bigger very visible SpaceX crash happening right now!

    14. ISCSI_Purveyor on

      I was wondering how that turned out. Bummer. It would have been neat to see the impact.

    18. Lusiric9983 on

      What? You mean the tiny (by comparison to the asteroids that hit the moon) rocket barely made a dent in the solid basalt rock that orbits our planet?

      No way…..

    20. blakeley on

      It didn’t crash. Elon sent it there to pick up all the guys who have been waiting there since the war ended. 

    21. herefromyoutube on

      I thought it was virtually impossible to even see the surface of the moon from earth at that level of detail.

      I thought most people can’t even see the lunar landers from Apollo.

    23. WardenEdgewise on

      Don’t they have seismometers on the moon?

      I just googled it, and yes. They do.

      So, did any of the lunar seismometers pick up the crash?

    24. LorenzoBloque on

      Please read and think Before criticising: It ALWAYS takes an male idiot from the USA (always and only the USA) to bomb, smash, trash, shoot, destroy or kill something or someone JUST BECAUSE HE CAN. The list is endless …
      Starting with every single invasion led by the USA:

      Mexico 1843
      Cuba 1890s
      Korea 1950
      Vietnam 1971
      Iraq (twice) 2001
      Afghanistan 2008
      Iran 2026

      And the USA is the only country in the world wher even kids do it, bullying and bringing guns to school or supermarkets, you name it.

      USA saying Stalin, Mao were tyrants (and they were indeed horrible, won’t defend them) HOWEVER neither of them ever dropped a massive Atom Bomb ON ANYONE, eventhough they had dozens.