NASA releases before-and-after images of new moon crater from SpaceX rocket impact

Published Aug 19, 12:17 AM UTC

NASA released before-and-after photos on August 19, 2026, showing a crater on the moon created by an unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that crashed into the lunar surface earlier in August. The rocket, launched in early 2025 on a one-way deep-space mission to carry lunar landers, ran out of fuel and drifted for months before being pulled by gravity into the moon at over 5,000 mph. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the images from 60 miles above, revealing a crater 60 feet wide and less than 10 feet deep, along with streaks of surface dust and rocks. The event adds to decades of lunar debris collisions, including intentional crashes like NASA's 2009 probe that struck water.