NASA releases images of crater created by Falcon rocket impact on the Moon

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) transmitted before-and-after images of a fresh impact crater on the Moon on Tuesday. The crater was created when the upper stage of a Falcon rocket, traveling at roughly 5,400 mph (8,700 kph), collided with the lunar surface on Aug. 5 after more than a year of drifting in space. The impact was part of a 2025 mission that launched two private lunar landers carrying scientific experiments and a small rover, reflecting NASA's effort to commercialize lunar exploration.

The images show dark and bright streaks radiating from the crater. Analysts say the darker lines are material excavated from near the surface, while the brighter rays represent fresh rock and soil ejected from deeper layers. The LRO photographed the site a week after the impact from an altitude of about 60 miles (96 km) while moving at roughly one mile per second. Flight controllers tilted the spacecraft to point its cameras toward the impact zone, and the crater became visible six days later as the orbiter completed its two-hour polar orbit.

South Korea’s Danuri spacecraft was the first to return photos of the site, followed by the LRO, which has been orbiting the Moon since 2009 and serves as NASA's primary imaging platform for lunar operations.