First images show Moon's fresh crater after stray rocket impact

The first images of the Moon have been released after part of a SpaceX rocket crashed into its surface. A South Korean satellite captured pictures that appear to show darker terrain at the crash site. What's next? NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to flyover the crash site next week to view the aftermath A South Korean satellite has captured the first images of the Moon's new impact site caused by a stray SpaceX rocket stage. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute's Danuri spacecraft passed over the impact site soon after the Falcon 9 upper stage inadvertently ploughed into the Moon on Wednesday, about 4:35pm AEST. Danuri made multiple passes, snapping photos from lunar orbit that the space agency later released. The terrain is noticeably darker where the rocket hit and carved out a crater, ejecting dust and rock across the surface. Korean space officials said Danuri gathered before-and-after shots. NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to flyover the crash site next week to view the aftermath. SpaceX launched Danuri from Cape Canaveral in 2022. The company also sent a pair of private lunar landers to the Moon last year. The upper stage from that launch is what crashed into the Moon this week at 8,700 kilometres an hour, after being placed on an accidental collision course by solar activity and gravity, according to SpaceX. Before the satellite images were released, a telescope in Chile had spotted what astronomers identified as the debris plume resulting from the impact. The team detected a stream of sodium and lithium stretching for tens of kilometres into space for at least five to 10 minutes following the impact. [Image text:] NAC Image, NASA 77965LE.IMG 01T22:31UTC KPLO LUTI Ima 2026-08-05T18