NASA has released images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) showing a new crater on the moon's surface caused by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crash. The upper stage of the Falcon 9 crashed into the lunar surface in the early hours of August 5. To capture the images between August 11 and 12, NASA engineers had to tilt the LRO spacecraft sideways so its Narrow-Angle Camera could point downward as it passed 60 miles above the crater. The camera can detect features as small as three feet wide. The LRO orbits from pole to pole every two hours at one mile per second, making the imaging process challenging. NASA waited six days for the spacecraft and crash site to align.

The images reveal a crater measuring 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep. The darker streak radiating from the crater consists of older surface materials altered by solar winds and cosmic rays, while lighter materials near the rim came from deeper underground. Independent astronomer Bill Grey first identified the rocket's collision course in April using orbit-computing software.

The 39-foot-long, 13-foot-wide rocket stage weighed approximately 4,000 kilograms and impacted the moon at 5,400 mph. This particular Falcon 9 originated from the January 15, 2025 Blue Ghost mission, which carried two lunar landers to orbit. After using most of its fuel for orbital insertion, the upper stage could not return to Earth and was pulled toward the moon by gravity and solar activity.