South Korea's Danuri lunar orbiter has captured before-and-after images of the crater carved out when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage slammed into the moon early Wednesday (Aug. 5), according to mission officials.
What Happened
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said via X on Thursday that Danuri began observations about 30 minutes before the collision and passed over the impact site multiple times, conducting eight imaging sessions total. The agency shared several images showing changes in terrain around the crash site and traces of spread ejecta.
"Danuri secured both pre-collision and immediate post-collision footage, enabling analysis of changes caused solely by the collision and providing important research data," KARI officials wrote in the X post.
The Falcon 9 upper stage that hit the moon launched on Jan. 15, 2025, carrying two private robotic lunar landers — Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience — to a high, moon-crossing Earth orbit. Blue Ghost landed successfully on March 2 of that year, but Resilience crashed during its touchdown attempt.
The rocket body weighed about 8,800 pounds (4,000 kilograms) and remained in Earth orbit after expending nearly all its fuel delivering the payloads. Solar activity and gravitational forces eventually pushed it onto a collision course with the moon. KARI officials said the impact occurred at 2:34 a.m. EDT (0634 GMT) on Wednesday, right in line with predictions.
Scientists had calculated that the rocket body likely struck the moon at about 5,400 mph (8,690 kph), gouging out a crater up to 89 feet (27 meters) wide. The Danuri observations, along with follow-up work by other lunar probes, will help verify those estimates.
"The observation data secured by Danuri will be linked with follow-up observations from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and utilized in international collaborative research," KARI officials said.
Astronomers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Spain also believe they captured video of ejected material blasting off the lunar surface around the predicted impact time, sharing preliminary footage on social media.
Why It Matters
This is a rare opportunity to study an artificial object's collision with the moon and refine models for how such impacts reshape the surface. The observations provide direct evidence of crater formation and ejecta behavior from a known projectile — data that can improve predictions for future lunar missions and debris disposal practices.
The Falcon 9 upper stage isn't the first rocket body to hit the moon: China's Long March 3C third stage crashed there on March 4, 2022, and NASA Saturn V stages created craters during multiple Apollo missions. Danuri's data will feed into international research efforts alongside LRO, helping scientists better understand both natural and human-made lunar impacts.
The Bottom Line
Danuri captured the crater formed by SpaceX's Falcon 9 upper stage impact on Aug. 5, confirming predictions about the crash site and providing valuable before-and-after imagery for collaborative study with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.