This is where SpaceX's rocket crashed into Moon
What's the story
NASA has released new images showing a 60-foot-wide crater created by a rogue SpaceX rocket on the lunar surface. The crash involved the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, which was launched on January 15, 2025. The first stage of the rocket returned to Earth after its mission, but its second stage continued pushing robotic landers toward the Moon.
Orbital dynamics
Rocket was on collision course with the Moon
After completing its mission, SpaceX intentionally disposed of the upper stage in space. However, orbital dynamics later revealed that the booster was on a collision course with the Moon.
Researchers and space agencies rushed to capture images of the vehicle's landing site after it hit the Moon on August 5.
The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile was among the first to spot the impact.
Collaboration
NASA used data from Korean lunar orbiter
NASA teamed up with the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) and used preliminary data from Danuri to guide a narrow-angle camera on board its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
The orbiter captured clearer images of the impact site.
"To capture imagery of the impact, engineers tilted the spacecraft so its cameras would point toward the crater each time LRO passed about 97km above the Moon," NASA said in a news release.
Imaging challenge
Imaging the impact site required extreme precision
It took six days for LRO's orbital path to align with the impact site, and even more time to process the images.
The space agency stressed that capturing the impact site required extreme precision, as a 10-second delay in taking a picture could shift the newly created crater by as much as 16.09km out of frame.
Safety assurance
Collision posed no threat to Earth or Moon's surface
Despite the unplanned rocket collision, NASA researchers have assured that the event posed no threat to Earth or the Moon's surface.
"This is not something we're really concerned about. This is actually a technically accepted and safe method of disposing of hardware in low lunar orbit," said Kelsey Young, a NASA lunar scientist.
She added that scientists are using observations from this collision to learn more about the Moon's surface and prepare for future missions.