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SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage crashes into Moon, creating crater

A SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage unintentionally struck the Moon on August 5, 2026, creating a crater, with images captured by a South Korean satellite.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 8, 2026, 11:05 a.m. ETUpdated Aug 27, 2026, 11:10 a.m. ET
A crashed into the Moon on August 5, 2026, creating a new crater 60 feet wide and under 10 feet deep, according to reports from TheJournal.ie, Jalopnik, and BizToc. The crash was unintentional; the upper stage was space junk that got pulled in by the Moon's gravity, the reports said. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute's Danuri spacecraft captured the first images of the impact site, TheJournal.ie and Jalopnik reported. The upper stage struck the lunar surface at 5,400mph, carving out a crater and darkening the surrounding terrain, according to TheJournal.ie. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later took detailed images of the crash site, following up on initial photos by the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, Jalopnik reported. launched the Danuri spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in 2022, according to TheJournal.ie. The upper stage's flight history and how it came to be on a lunar impact trajectory have not been established in the reporting.

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Revision history

  1. Version 427 Aug 2026, 15:10current

    Added details on crater dimensions and NASA's follow-up images; clarified that the crash was unintentional.

  2. Version 323 Aug 2026, 03:22

    Updated to include the first images captured by Danuri and the crater dimensions, as reported by TheJournal.ie and Jalopnik.

  3. Version 221 Aug 2026, 19:52

    Added Jalopnik as a source; noted the crash was unintentional; clarified that the upper stage's flight history is not established.

  4. Version 119 Aug 2026, 22:38

    First published.

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