A South Korean satellite has captured images of a distinct mark on the moon resulting from a SpaceX rocket colliding with it on Wednesday. The mark appears as a noticeable smudge, varying in darkness across different photographs, located near the Einstein Crater on the lunar surface.
The Korean lunar orbiter Danuri, also known as the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), documented the incident, capturing images before and after the SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage collided with the moon. The Korean AeroSpace Administration (KASA) reported that the orbiter’s high-resolution Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI) camera was instrumental in capturing these images.
The SpaceX rocket’s second stage, launched in January 2025, had veered off course over the past year following its mission to transport two lunar landers into space. Traveling at an estimated speed of 8,700 km/hour, the rocket made an unintentional but expected crash onto the moon on Wednesday.
Telescopes on Earth observed the plume of debris resulting from the impact before the release of the new images, confirming the occurrence of the crash. Danuri, launched in 2022 aboard a SpaceX rocket, has been orbiting approximately 100 kilometers above the moon’s poles since December of that year. Originally planned for a one-year mission, its operational lifespan has been extended until 2027.