Possible Chinese Rocket Just Hit the Moon at 5,700 Mph – We Think

You'd be hard pressed to have seen much about it on the news the last few days, or even few weeks, but this morning around 5:30 AM mountain time, a massive, defective rocket that's been hurling through space for the last eight or so years has collided with the dark side of the moon at just over 5,700 miles per hour.

Don't say I didn't warn you! I told you it was going to happen over a month ago!

Related: Busted SpaceX Rocket Will Literally Crash Into the Moon on March 4

I'm not making this up. It legitimately happened today. We think.

Although the man who discovered the rocket was on a trajectory to crash into the moon today initially thought it was part of an old SpaceX Falcon 9 Second Stage rocket, he later found data to suggest it was instead part of an old Chinese launch vehicle - which China denies.

Scientists won't be able to confirm for a couple of weeks that impact occurred today or where, but the rocket is thought to be somewhere around three and a half tons and was documented traveling at a rate of 2.58 kilometers per second, or 5,760 miles per hour. That's a pretty big thing moving pretty darn fast.

The impact wasn't visible from earth this morning, but two satellites that orbit the moon will show us the crash site after they pass over where it impacted. The satellites will at least photograph the crater that resulted from the impact, even if no debris is visible, which surely none will be at that high rate of speed.