SpaceX Falcon 9 Crater on The Moon | NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

SpaceX Falcon 9 Crater on The Moon | NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

This two-frame animation shows a new crater appearing on the Moon with ejecta rays extending outward. This is an animated before-and-after view of the crater formed after a Falcon 9 upper stage struck the Moon’s surface on Aug. 5 when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the surface following its January 2025 launch of the Firefly Blue Ghost 1 mission. These images were taken between Aug. 11 and 12 by the narrow-angle camera (NAC) on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). These images are enlarged three times from the original with north facing up. They cover an area about a quarter of a mile wide.

Between Aug. 11 and 12, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a series of images of a new crater on the Moon. 

To capture imagery of the impact, engineers tilted the spacecraft so its cameras would point toward the crater each time LRO passed about 60 miles above the Moon, traveling 1 mile per second. The orbiter circles the Moon from pole to pole every two hours, while the Moon slowly rotates underneath it. To photograph a specific spot, the spacecraft must wait until that location turns into view. This took six days in this case.

Getting the pointing right was only half the challenge. Timing had to be accurate as well. If the camera snapped even 10 seconds too early or too late, the target would drift off-center by 10 miles.

Because of the variety of viewing angles, scientists could see the crater under a range of lighting conditions that revealed unique features. In images where the crater rim stood out, scientists measured its 60‑foot width. Scientists also determined the crater is less than 10 feet deep based on the length of its shadow.

To capture these details, LRO used its narrow-angle camera. It can spot features as small as 3 feet wide.

Finding the impact site took global coordination among experts and hobbyists. Independent astronomers first identified the rocket’s trajectory using publicly available data. NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies tracks natural objects that can pose hazards to Earth for the agency’s Planetary Defense program. It used this opportunity to test and validate tools and techniques for predicting impacts.

Based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the center incrementally refined the trajectory until identifying the location of impact. It provided this information to the Republic of Korea for their Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (Danuri) team. The team used the high-resolution LUTI camera on Danuri a few hours later to image the crater, finding the prediction was accurate to about 0.6 miles. 

After capturing images of the crater, the Danuri mission sent coordinates to NASA’s LRO team to help refine their follow-up imaging sequence. Comparing their new crater images with the pre-impact images, the LRO team updated the crater center coordinates: 19.4759°N, 266.7138°E, 511 meters elevation.

Learn more about LRO:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lro/

Image Credit: NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines
Release Date: Aug. 18, 2026

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