I somehow missed this in the news from 2022.
A wayward rocket slammed into moon at 5,700 mph creating an 80-foot wide crater—NASA didn’t send it, SpaceX denied it, and China said, “Not ours!”
I’ll add this to the best space documentaries when I get to that list!
Watch “Moon Crash (March 4, 2022)”
You can watch it for free on YouTube by clicking the video embed above.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 88/100
- IMDB Rating: na
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: /na
Release Date: April 9, 2022
My Review of “Moon Crash (March 4, 2022)”
The Setup
A forgotten piece of space junk slammed into the Moon on March 4, 2022.
The impact occurred near the Hertzsprung crater on the Moon’s far side.
NASA confirmed the crash when its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a double crater—something never before seen from an artificial impact.
China denied responsibility, claiming their booster had already burned up in Earth’s atmosphere.
But the object turned out to be from China’s Long March 3C third-stage booster —was first thought to be part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket before experts traced it back to China (source: Wikipedia — it was a booster from China’s Chang’e 5-T1 mission)
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- The impact created not one, but two overlapping craters, suggesting the booster had two large masses, possibly fuel tanks or heavy engines. China denied the booster was theirs, despite spectral analysis from the University of Arizona proving otherwise.Despite the Moon being bombarded by natural impacts all the time, this was the first known case of unintentional human-made debris crashing into it.
More Highlights from the Event
- The booster was initially misidentified as part of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s DSCOVR mission before astronomers corrected the record.
- The booster was originally part of China’s Chang’e 5-T1 mission, launched in 2014.
- Amateur astronomer Bill Gray first predicted the collision in early 2022, but it took independent analysis to confirm its origin.
- The crash site, near Hertzsprung crater, is located on the far side of the Moon—meaning no one on Earth saw it happen.
- NASA discovered the impact months later through satellite imaging, revealing a 28-meter-wide double crater.
- The U.S. Space Command confirmed the booster never reentered Earth’s atmosphere, contradicting China’s claim.
- This incident highlighted major gaps in space junk tracking—even in deep space.
Lesser-Known Details
- The booster was cataloged as object 85900 in the Space-Track database after its identity was confirmed.
- This crash showed how difficult it is to track space junk that moves between Earth and the Moon—right now, most resources are focused on tracking objects in low-Earth orbit.
- The event renewed calls for better space sustainability and international regulations to prevent future crashes.
- A campaign to reestablish contact with the Chinese 4M probe, which was onboard the mission, was attempted—but failed.
- There are over 26,000 pieces of space debris larger than a softball orbiting Earth, many of which could cause catastrophic damage to satellites or even crewed missions.
Wrap Up
This story wasn’t just about a hunk of metal crashing into the Moon. It was a wake-up call.
The fact that a rocket booster spent eight years drifting through space unnoticed before slamming into another celestial body shows how little control we have over human-made debris.
If we can’t track a 4-ton booster near the Moon, how do we keep thousands of smaller pieces from turning Earth’s orbit into a minefield?
Thanks for reading!
Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc