Topline
NASA published before-and-after photos Tuesday of a part of the moon hit by an unmanned SpaceX rocket this month, showing a wide but relatively shallow crater was created by the collision.
Before-and-after images of the crater.
NASA
Key Facts
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the photos last week from 60 miles above the moon, waiting six days for the moon to rotate and show the collision site.
The crater created by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket measured 60 feet wide and less than 10 feet deep, according to NASA’s analysis of the crater’s shadow.
The orbiter’s narrow-angle camera can spot features as small as three feet wide.
The images also showed streaks of surface dust and rocks created by the collision.
Why Did The SpaceX Rocket Hit The Moon?
The Falcon 9 rocket was launched in early 2025 on a one-way mission to carry lunar landers into deep space. The rocket did not have the fuel needed to navigate itself back to Earth so it could burn up in the atmosphere. Instead, it drifted for several months before it was pulled by gravity into the moon.
Key Background
The rocket is believed to have crashed into the moon at over 5,000 mph, marking one of many rocket and debris collisions on the moon since the 1960s. Recent crashes have involved Russia’s Luna-25 mission in 2023 and a spent Chinese rocket body in 2022. Intentional crashes have also been conducted. In 2009, a NASA probe deliberately crashed into the moon and struck water—at least 25 gallons of it—in the southern polar region.
Further Reading
SpaceX Rocket Hits Moon As Lunar Junk Tops 209 Tons (Forbes)
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