NASA captures photos of new crater left by SpaceX Falcon 9 crash

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured high-resolution images of the site during mid-August passes

SpaceX Moon Crash This photo provided by NASA on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a fresh crater on the moon created by a collision with a SpaceX rocket. (NASA via AP) (NASA via AP)

By Angel Green

ORLANDO, Fla. — On August 5, a spent SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage impacted the Moon, creating a new 60-foot-wide crater that NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed from lunar orbit.

SpaceX Moon Crash This combo made with photos provided by NASA on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows before, left, and after images of a fresh crater on the moon created by a collision with a SpaceX rocket. (NASA via AP) (NASA via AP)

The upper stage from a January 2025 Firefly launch of Blue Ghost 1 struck near Einstein and Bell craters at 5,400 mph after running out of fuel and drifting on a tracked, gravity-driven path.

The images reveal a roughly 60-foot-wide, less-than-10-foot-deep pit surrounded by bright rays of freshly excavated material—slightly shallower than pre-impact models predicted.

Between Aug. 11 and 12, LRO engineers tilted the spacecraft on each pass so its high-resolution camera could capture the new crater from about 60 miles up while the orbiter raced along at roughly 1 mile per second.

The photos also let scientists pin down the crater’s location to 19.4759°N, 266.7138°E, adding a new data point for studying how human-made impacts shape the lunar surface.

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