SpaceX Falcon 9 Stage Crashes into Moon, Creates 60‑Foot Crater

On August 5, a discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 first‑stage booster struck the lunar surface, forming a new crater roughly 60 feet wide. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured detailed images of the impact site, revealing bright and dark streaks of debris scattered across the surrounding regolith. The images also show fresh material exposed beneath the Moon’s weathered exterior, providing a rare glimpse of subsurface composition. The event marks the first known instance of a human‑made rocket stage creating a measurable crater on the Moon, offering scientists a unique opportunity to study impact processes and lunar geology.