A SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage crashed into the moon on August 5, leaving a crater roughly the size of two buses placed end to end. NASA has now released the clearest images yet of the impact site.

The images were captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was flying about 60 miles above the moon’s surface at roughly one mile per second. Engineers tilted the camera to point directly at the crater each time the orbiter passed overhead. Scientists estimate the crater is about 18 metres wide and less than three metres deep. NASA said the impact carried the force of roughly three tonnes of dynamite.

🇺🇸 SpaceX punched a permanent hole in the Moon, and NASA just dropped the photos. A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 stage slammed into the surface two weeks ago at over 5,000 mph… and left a perfect 60-foot scar. Elon is out here casually carving his name into another world now.… pic.twitter.com/dpKZYFh1p3 — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 19, 2026

🇺🇸 SpaceX punched a permanent hole in the Moon, and NASA just dropped the photos.

A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 stage slammed into the surface two weeks ago at over 5,000 mph… and left a perfect 60-foot scar.

Elon is out here casually carving his name into another world now.… pic.twitter.com/dpKZYFh1p3

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 19, 2026

The Falcon 9 upper stage was launched on January 15 while carrying lunar landers. After the mission, SpaceX said it could not complete a controlled deorbit because lunar missions require far more energy than typical launches, which makes disposal of upper stages more complicated than on many Earth-orbit missions.

Spotted: Falcon 9 impact site NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured images of a new crater on the Moon. The crater formed on Aug. 5, 2026, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the lunar surface. pic.twitter.com/hE83yvzmIk — NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) August 18, 2026

Spotted: Falcon 9 impact site

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured images of a new crater on the Moon. The crater formed on Aug. 5, 2026, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the lunar surface. pic.twitter.com/hE83yvzmIk

— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) August 18, 2026

“For most of our missions, we plan a controlled deorbit of the Falcon second stage so it safely reenters over the ocean,” SpaceX said in a post on X. In this case, solar activity and gravity pulled the rocket toward the moon during more than a year of drifting.

SpaceX added that it “actively works to be as responsible as possible with hardware left in space.”

The incident also highlighted the growing amount of traffic in orbit, where more hardware now shares limited space and tracking attention. SpaceX currently has more than 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit and serves more than 12 million broadband subscribers. Amazon and China’s Qianfan constellation are also planning to launch thousands more satellites.

As more objects enter orbit, concerns over debris and long-term traffic management continue to grow. Ideas being discussed include active debris tracking, removal services, and satellite designs that burn up safely at the end of their lives.

SpaceX’s next rocket, Starship, is fully reusable, with both stages designed to return to Earth. That means future missions are not expected to leave hardware drifting toward the moon. The 14th Starship test flight is expected later this month.

The lunar impact did not directly affect SpaceX’s share price. SpaceX went public in June at $135 per share, and the stock was trading just above $143 before Wednesday’s decline to $142.23, a drop of 0.8%.

Around 319 million additional shares held by early investors are set to become available for trading on August 20. That share unlock had previously pressured the stock before it recovered after second-quarter earnings.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.