The SpaceX Falcon 9 that crashed into the Moon

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (0:05)
A wayward rocket stage slams into the moon, this week on Planetary Radio.
I'm Sarah Al-Ahmed of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. Millions of people across Europe had the opportunity to see something truly spectacular last week. Kate Hals, the Planetary Society's Public Education Specialist, shares her experience witnessing the 2026 total solar eclipse from a canyon in Spain. Then Jared Head, producer of Tomorrow and Museum Facilitator at Columbia Memorial Space Center, breaks down how a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage ended up crashing into the moon and what it means for the future of cislunar space. Plus, Jack Kiraly, the Planetary Society's newly-minted Chief of Advocacy, gives us an update on the fight to protect NASA. Then we'll wrap up with Bruce Betts, our Chief Scientist, for What's Up. We'll talk about the spaceship graveyard in the South Pacific. If you love Planetary Radio and want to stay informed about the latest space discoveries, make sure you hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcasting platform. By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode filled with new and awe-inspiring ways to know the cosmos and our place within it.
Last week, on August 12th, a total solar eclipse swept across parts of the Northern Hemisphere. It crossed Greenland, Iceland and Spain, along with a couple other countries. It was Europe's first time to see a total solar eclipse in 27 years, but for people living in Spain, specifically, it was the first total solar eclipse since 1905 You all know how I feel about total solar eclipses. We are so profoundly lucky to live at this moment in time on a world where total solar eclipses are even possible. And if you caught our July episode, Small Town Universe, you may have heard Kate Howells, the Planetary Society's public education specialist, talking about her plans to catch this eclipse from Spain on her honeymoon. Now Kate's back to tell us all about it.
Hey, Kate, welcome back.

**Kate Howells** (2:15)
Hi, Sarah. Thank you.

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (2:17)
I have to hear what your adventure was like seeing this thing because the images of this eclipse I've seen so far are absolutely mind-blowing.

**Kate Howells** (2:25)
Yeah, it was unreal. Absolutely perfect weather, not a cloud in the sky.
I was super lucky to get to witness this eclipse from a very beautiful location. I was on the edge of a canyon with one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen in my life, regardless of having an eclipse. It was just a stunning, stunning vista, and the eclipse itself was absolutely magnificent. I've seen another eclipse in the last, I was at the 2024 eclipse in Canada, but in a very different context. It was in a city park, and it was very cloudy, and there was tons of people around, and it was magnificent. This time it was, yeah, on the edge of a canyon, just me and my husband, no one else around, absolutely perfect clear skies. I won't say that it was better this time, because every eclipse experience is amazing, but I just feel so incredibly lucky to have gotten to see two now in my life.

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (3:27)
That is so magical. I've seen two of them now.
The first one, absolutely clear skies. The second one was magical in a different way because of the cloud cover and the fact that the sky opened up just at the right moment. But the images I'm seeing out of Spain right now really show how special it is that this eclipse was so close to the horizon. People got these beautiful kind of sunset eclipse images. Did that change the experience for you?

**Kate Howells** (3:52)
Yeah, absolutely. So again, we were in this national park on the edge of this canyon, and it had been a very adventurous drive to get to this spot. And so as soon as the eclipse was over, my husband and I said, okay, we should probably get back to the car and drive down what we didn't want to be driving on these very off-road roads at night. But we thought, okay, we'll stay just a little bit longer to catch the sunset, because it was only about 30 minutes after totality that the sun started going down over the edge of the canyon. And it was so worth staying and risking the dodgy drive, because seeing the sunset, that's a time when you can actually look at the sun, when it's low on the horizon and it's that sort of reddish color. And it was partially eclipsed still at that time. So seeing this blood red crescent sun going down over the edge of the canyon, unreal, just absolutely magnificent.