A drifting SpaceX rocket will slam into the Moon on Wednesday, with scientists saying the 'impact flash' could be visible from Earth23:11, 04 Aug 2026Updated 23:13, 04 Aug 2026A drifting SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the Moon - and the impact flash could be visible from Earth.‌The rocket’s upper stage, about the size of a five-storey building, will unintentionally slam into the Moon on Wednesday, carving out a crater and sending up a plume of dust and rubble.‌The Falcon 9 rocket was launched by SpaceX last year as part of a US-Japanese mission carrying two lunar landers and scientific equipment to the Moon.‌The abandoned segment measures around 40ft and weighs around 10,000lb. Experts say the crash could have been avoided if the upper stage had been nudged into orbit around the Sun.Space-tracking expert Bill Gray predicts the rocket will strike the Moon at around 5,400mph - about seven times the speed of sound. He believes the impact will be near Einstein Crater on the Moon's sunlit western limb.‌Will the collision be visible from Earth?The collision itself is not expected to be visible from Earth. However, some astronomers believe the impact flash - which will last less than a second - may be visible through powerful telescopes.The plume of dust and debris is considered more likely to be visible. It could stretch for several miles above the lunar surface and remain visible through telescopes for tens of minutes.Astronomer Bill Gray, who first identified the rocket stage's eventual lunar collision, wrote on his Project Pluto website: "Maybe we'll see the flash. Maybe we'll see rocks ejected from the crater. Maybe we'll even see both."‌Dr Matt Bothwell, public astronomer at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC that people with access to a sophisticated telescope may be able to spot a flash radiating off the Moon's surface.Observers in the eastern US and Canada, along with much of South America, are expected to have the best chance of seeing it.Growing concern over space junkWhile scientists are not too concerned about this particular piece of space junk, they say it highlights the growing threat as more and more items cram into orbit.‌"Things are getting crowded up there," said Gray, who plans to view the aftermath from New Brunswick, Canada.It will be the second discarded rocket known to crash into the Moon accidentally. A Chinese rocket segment dug out a pair of craters on the Moon's far side in 2022.Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Benjamin Fernando told The Associated Press: "Part of the reason for our interest in this event is to figure out how much of a hazard debris impacts pose to future astronauts."Article continues belowFernando expects the impact to create a crater about 90ft across and 16ft deep - too small to be seen from Earth but visible to spacecraft.Retired astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told The Associated Press that "this impact will not be a problem", but said that "in a future where there are long-term bases on the Moon, similar impacts would be an issue, and we need not to leave rocket stages in chaotic orbits of this kind".