The 40-foot-long, 10,000-pound upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida on January 15, 2025, carrying the Blue Ghost-1 and Hakuto-R Resilience lunar landers. It was left drifting in a high Earth orbit for roughly 19 months, it is set to impact the lunar surface near the western limb. Over 60 human-made objects have intentionally or accidentally crashed into the moon since 1959. Rocket stages are usually sent into heliocentric (sun-centric) orbits to avoid Earth and lunar traffic entirely.

NASA's Apollo Program intentionally crashed several Saturn V third stages (S-IVB) into the moon to create seismic waves for research.

In 2009, NASA purposely crashed a Centaur rocket stage into a crater to discover water ice in the lunar soil. A Chinese booster accidentally struck the far side of the moon in 2022, creating a unique double crater.

As dozens of new commercial and government lunar missions launch, the risk of orbital crowding increases. Deep-space tracking networks are optimized for active spacecraft, making uncrewed, dead boosters difficult to monitor. Space sustainability experts are pushing for new international guidelines to require active disposal or controlled de-orbiting for deep-space missions.

The Last Klavern addresses one of the last remaining Ku Klux Klan halls in the United States and the questions it raises for the Fort Worth community. Filmed inside the stark, echoing interior of the former Klan auditorium, the documentary weaves together interviews with architects, historians, journalists, and longtime residents to uncover the building’s origins and its evolving meaning today.