Danuri’s Moon photos reveal fresh crater from SpaceX debris

Images from South Korea’s Danuri lunar orbiter show a new blackened crater near Einstein crater after a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage slammed into the Moon at about 5,400 mph (8,700 km/h) on Aug. 5, 2026. The 4.4-ton piece likely carved a crater roughly 90 feet (27 meters) wide and up to 16 feet (5 meters) deep, with a debris plume detected by ESO’s Very Large Telescope but not visible from Earth. The stage had orbited the Earth–Moon system for about a year since a 2025 mission carrying Firefly’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Hakuto-R; NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and other observatories will study the site to understand lunar geology and assess hazards for future missions.