Published : 24 Aug 2026, 07:42 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:35 AM
NASA has released before-and-after images showing a new crater on the Moon created when part of a SpaceX rocket crashed into the lunar surface earlier this month.
The upper stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket slammed into the Moon on Aug 5 at about 5,400mph, after spending more than a year in space, The Washington Post reports.
Images captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the impact site six days after the crash, from about 60 miles above the lunar surface.
Scientists determined that the resulting crater is about 60 feet across and less than 10 feet deep.
The images show bright and dark streaks spreading out from the crater, the report said.
According to NASA, the darker rays are made up of dust and rocks that have been altered over time by solar wind, cosmic rays and micrometeorite impacts.
The brighter streaks consist of material excavated from deeper beneath the lunar surface.
The crash was not intentional, but NASA said it was not concerned about the impact.
Kelsey Young, a NASA lunar scientist, described lunar-surface impacts as an “accepted and safe” way of disposing of hardware in low lunar orbit.
“In some cases, mission operators actually choose to end their mission by impacting their hardware on the lunar surface because it’s a predictable and trackable strategy,” she said in a social media post.
