A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage has crashed into the moon at 5,400 miles per hour, carving a 60-foot-wide crater into the lunar surface, official NASA satellite photographs reveal.
The 9,920-pound upper stage slammed into the far-side lunar terrain on August 5, 2026, striking with an explosive force equivalent to 15,000 sticks of dynamite or three tonnes of TNT.
SpaceX, the private American aerospace manufacturer founded by chief executive Elon Musk, launched the 39-foot-long rocket section in January 2025 before unexpected gravitational forces and space weather diverted it onto an accidental collision course.
NASA satellite captures impact site
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured images showing a distinct 60-foot-wide impact scar surrounded by bright and dark streaks of ejected lunar rock.
"Spotted: Falcon 9 impact site," NASA wrote in a post on X. "NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured images of a new crater on the moon. The crater formed on August 5, 2026, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the lunar surface."
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a robotic spacecraft operated by NASA, the US space agency, that orbits 60 miles above the moon to map its topography. Engineers tilted the satellite's cameras toward the target area as it passed over the site while travelling at one mile per second.
Analysis of the orbital imagery confirmed that the newly formed crater is less than 10 feet deep. The impact occurred at precise coordinates of 19.4759 degrees north, 266.7138 degrees east, at an elevation of 511 metres (1,676 feet).
Excavated lunar rock and surface debris
The high-speed collision dislodged layers of lunar dust and ancient rock that had remained undisturbed for millions of years, scattering debris across the surrounding surface.
"The images show bright and dark rays stretching out from the crater," NASA said in an official statement detailing the photograph. "The darker streaks are made of surface dust and rocks altered over a long time by solar wind, galactic cosmic rays and micrometeorite impacts."
The space agency added: "This weathered material was excavated by the collision from 1.5 feet into the lunar surface. The brighter streaks near the crater rim are made of fresh material excavated from deeper underground."
The crash occurred near the Einstein crater on the northwestern limb of the moon, which was facing the sun at the time of the collision. Because the impact site sat on the lunar edge facing away from direct line of sight, the initial flash was not visible from Earth.
Public response to the orbital photographs on social media was immediate, with users sharing reactions on X. One person joked, "SpaceX making lunar graffiti," while another commented, "X marks the spot." A third user expressed concern about space exploration ethics, writing: "Am I the only one to think the new crater on the moon is a really bad thing? We haven't done great things to Earth, now we're smashing into the moon?"
Korean satellite and Spanish telescope tracking
Before NASA released its high-resolution survey, South Korea's space agency captured the first images of the impact zone.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) operates the Danuri spacecraft, South Korea's first lunar orbiter. Danuri flew over the crash site at 7:34 am BST shortly after the collision, capturing photographs of the blackened crater on the lunar surface.
The Korean spacecraft had also taken photographs of the exact coordinates 30 minutes prior to impact, providing astronomers with a direct before-and-after visual comparison.
Meanwhile, a team of researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Spain claims to have recorded the only footage of the collision while it was happening. Although the rocket booster hit just behind the moon's limb, concealing the impact flash, astronomers believe they caught the rising plume of dust and debris kicked out into space by the force of the strike.
Unexpected collision path and space debris
The Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in January 2025. Its primary mission was to carry two private commercial landers, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience, into lunar orbit.
Falcon 9 rockets use a two-stage design where the primary booster returns safely to Earth for reuse, while secondary upper stages are jettisoned in orbit after delivering their payloads. Secondary stages normally drift through space for several years before burning up safely upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
The rocket was never intended to crash into the moon. However, a combination of lunar gravity and unexpected solar weather gradually altered the discarded upper stage's path over 19 months, driving it into the moon. Independent astronomers first detected the hazardous drift, which was later confirmed by NASA's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies.
The Daily Mail has contacted SpaceX for comment regarding the collision and space debris tracking protocols.
History of human landings on the moon
The accidental impact highlights the growing history of human activity on the moon, where 12 astronauts walked across six NASA Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972.
Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon during Apollo 11 on July 21, 1969, joined by crewmate Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. Apollo 12 followed on November 19 and 20, 1969, when Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed after their Saturn V rocket survived two lightning strikes shortly after liftoff.
Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell landed in the Fra Mauro region on February 5, 1971, after launching on January 31 to complete the target originally assigned to Apollo 13. Later that year, Dave Scott and James Irwin landed on July 31 during Apollo 15, spending three days on the surface before departing on August 2.
Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke landed on April 21, 1972, following a command and service module main engine malfunction in lunar orbit that almost aborted the landing. Eugene "Gene" Cernan and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt became the final humans to walk on the moon during Apollo 17, landing on December 11, 1972.
Before leaving the surface, Cernan etched his daughter Tracy's initials into the lunar regolith, the loose layer of dust covering lunar bedrock. Because the moon has no atmosphere, wind, or rain to cause erosion, those initials and the new SpaceX crater will remain preserved for generations.
