NASA has released new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images of the Moon’s impact site after a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the lunar surface on 5 August. The fresh images show a crater about 60 feet wide and less than 10 feet deep, with bright and dark ejecta rays spreading around the impact area.
The spacecraft imaged the site on 11 and 12 August, updating the location to 19.4759°N, 266.7138°E at 511 metres elevation. NASA linked the crater to the Falcon 9 upper stage associated with the Firefly Blue Ghost 1 mission launch sequence. The scene offers a rare documented case of human-made debris leaving a measurable crater on the Moon, giving scientists a direct look at how high-velocity impacts excavate and redistribute lunar material.