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The Korean Aerospace Administration (KASA) has released images of the Moon following the crash of part of a SpaceX rocket onto its surface on Wednesday. The lunar orbiter Danuri captured images of the impact, which was shared externally alongside photos of the Moon's surface prior to the incident. The rocket debris struck the Moon at approximately 06:35 GMT.

SpaceX clarified that the impact was not intentional. Reusable Falcon 9 rockets are designed to return parts of the rocket to Earth and shed other sections in space. The empty upper stage of this particular Falcon 9 rocket, predicted to hit the Moon at around 5,400mph (8,700km/h), is comparable in size to a five-story building and weighs about 4,000kg (630 stone) on Earth.

The brief, dramatic flash created by the impact was difficult to detect even by amateur astronomers with high-end telescopes, but larger observatories like KASA are now examining the data. While the impact posed no threat to Earth, astronomer Matt Bothwell from the University of Cambridge expressed concerns about growing space debris.

He emphasized that space is becoming increasingly crowded due to the frequent launches, potentially making it challenging to navigate Earth's orbit within a few decades. The Falcon 9 in question had been in orbit since January of last year and was scheduled to launch the 18th mission on August 10. SpaceX intends to use this mission to deploy 29 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

The rocket launched from Florida in January 2025 was carrying two lunar landers into space, with the objective of propelling the upper stage forcefully enough to send the landers out of Earth's orbit and onto a trajectory towards the Moon. The spent stage then drifted in a looping orbit that alternated between approaching and receding from the Moon.

Over the next 18 months, gravitational forces from the Earth, Moon, and Sun, along with solar radiation, gradually altered the rocket's path, leading to its collision with the Moon. This event occurred during daylight hours for many parts of the world, but the faint flash was too subtle to observe even with a telescope.