A South Korean satellite released the first images of the Elon Musk rocket moon crash after a stray SpaceX segment struck the moon on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. The pictures show the fresh impact site soon after the hit, with darker terrain where the rocket carved out a crater.
The impact was estimated at 5,400 mph, or 8,700 kph. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute released the photos on Thursday after Danuri made multiple passes over the site from lunar orbit.
Danuri Over The Moon
Danuri flew over the impact site soon after the collision and snapped photos from lunar orbit. The images compare the moon's surface before Oct. 1, 2015 and after Aug. 5, 2026, giving the first before-and-after view of the damage left by the crash.
SpaceX said solar activity and gravity placed the upper stage on an accidental collision course. Elon Musk's company launched Danuri from Cape Canaveral in 2022, and it also sent a pair of private lunar landers to the moon last year.
NASA And Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to fly over the crash site next week. That pass should add another look at the crater and help narrow the scale of the impact, which Danuri's pictures have only partly shown.
The new images also sit alongside a complication in the record: scientists were certain the rocket had slammed into the moon as predicted, but the crash had not yet been officially confirmed before the photos were released. The crater size is still the open question that will shape what NASA can learn when Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter makes its pass.
For Elon Musk and SpaceX, the sequence leaves a visible mark on the moon and a short list of facts to settle with the next flyover: how large the crater is and how much the impact altered the surface.
