- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured high-resolution before-and-after photos of a crater created by a SpaceX Falcon rocket upper stage that crashed into the Moon.
- The rocket struck the lunar surface at 5,400 mph on August 5 after drifting in space for over a year following a launch that carried private landers and scientific experiments.
- Scientists determined the newly formed crater measures approximately 60 feet across and under 10 feet deep, with distinct dark and bright streaks radiating outward from the impact site.
- The orbiter took the detailed images a week after the collision from an altitude of 60 miles, requiring flight controllers to tilt the spacecraft's cameras toward the crash site.
- Operating since 2009, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter continues to provide critical mapping and observation data to assist future astronaut missions to the lunar surface.
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