A NASA spacecraft in orbit around the Moon captured dramatic images of the impact crater left when a SpaceX rocket crashed into the lunar surface this month. The defunct upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket crashed uncontrollably into the Moon on August 5 at an estimated speed of 5,400 mph. The roughly 10,800-pound booster had launched two landers to the moon in January 2025, then drifted in orbit until impact. NASA on Tuesday released new images of the crash site taken by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on August 11 and 12. Before and after views reveal a bright indentation in the moon’s already marked terrain. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, these images were taken from different angles, with the sun’s illumination gradually changing. Each image shows an area of the Moon about 1,000 feet wide. NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines Although there were no live views of the August 5 impact, researchers were able to track the rocket’s trajectory and pinpoint the expected site of the new crater along the western edge of the sunlit side of the Moon. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter can’t easily choose a precise location to photograph because it orbits the Moon from pole to pole every other time. hours, while the moon rotates on its axis. That means the spacecraft must wait for its orbit to align with a specific location as it rotates into view. NASA said it took six days for the orbiter to fly over the SpaceX crash site. Engineers had to tilt the spacecraft so its cameras were pointed toward the crater as it flew 60 miles above the lunar surface at 1 mile per second. The new photographs reveal that the crater measures about 60 feet wide. Based on the length of its shadow, scientists found that it is most likely less than 10 feet deep, according to NASA. The images also show bright and dark streaks emanating from the crater. The darker rays are surface dust and rocks that were kicked up by the collision from a depth of about 1.5 feet, according to NASA. The brighter streaks near the crater rim were formed by fresher material excavated from deep underground after the booster impacted the moon’s surface. NASA said the center of the crater is at an elevation of about 1,700 feet. Shortly after the accident, a telescope in Chile detected a plume of debris from the cosmic collision. Later, Korea’s Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, which launched in 2022 as South Korea’s first lunar mission, flew over the impact site and took photographs of the crater and ejecta in its surroundings. The Falcon 9 crash was only the second known case in which a rocket unintentionally impacted the lunar surface. The Moon has withstood countless impacts from asteroids and other cosmic objects throughout its life, but it is very rare for a man-made object to crash uncontrollably into its surface. In 2022, what was thought to be the upper stage of a Chinese rocket that sent a test capsule to the Moon in 2014 crashed into the far side of the Moon, creating a double snowman-shaped crater that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter detected months later. China has denied that its spacecraft was involved. The SpaceX accident sparked new debates about sustainability issues in space, particularly as countries like the United States and China rush to get their astronauts and infrastructure to the moon. In an Aug. 5 statement, SpaceX said it intends to properly account for its hardware after missions. “We are actively working to be as responsible as possible with the hardware left in space to ensure space security, even for more complex missions,” he said. “In this case, over time, solar activity and gravity carried the second stage toward the Moon. Impacts like this are rare, but they can occur with objects in these types of orbits, and we are working with NASA on the optimal disposal solution.”
