India, Aug. 6 -- A stray SpaceX rocket stage is believed to have crashed into the Moon, creating a new crater near the famous Einstein crater. The object was the empty upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which had been left in space after completing its main job during a lunar mission. The rocket stage was expected to hit the Moon at around 5,400 mph (8,700 km/h) on Wednesday, making the impact extremely fast and difficult to observe.

The collision happened at about 07:35 BST (06:35 GMT) on Wednesday. The impact was especially difficult to watch because it happened on a daylit part of the Moon, meaning the area was already brightly lit by the Sun. The actual flash from the crash was expected to last for only a fraction of a second, ...