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The discarded upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket crashed into the north (near) side of the Moon around 2:35 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, at an estimated speed of 5,400 mph, seven times the speed of sound. The impact was expected to create a new crater and a detectable dust plume visible from Earth.
Danuri, also known as Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), began observations about thirty minutes before the collision and, through orbit control, passed over the impact site multiple times, conducting a total of eight imaging sessions. Through this observation, changes in the terrain around the impact site and traces of ejecta were confirmed. Danuri secured both pre-collision and immediate post-collision footage, enabling analysis of changes caused solely by the collision and providing important research data.
The SpaceX rocket stage is left over from a January 15, 2025, launch that sent Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 and ispace's Resilience lunar lander to the Moon. Since that mission, it had remained in orbit around Earth, taking 26 days to complete each trip without falling back into the atmosphere.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will also image the impact site.
The South Korean Danuri orbiter is surveying lunar resources such as water ice, uranium, helium-3, silicon, and aluminium. It is producing topographic maps to help select lunar landing sites. Ironically, the mission was launched on August 4, 2022, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It was inserted into lunar orbit on December 16, 2022 (UTC) and represents the country's first lunar mission.
Release Date: Aug. 6, 2026
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