South Korea captures before and after of SpaceX rocket's Moon impact

South Korea's Danuri satellite has successfully captured images documenting the final moments of a SpaceX rocket stage's journey – the before and after of its impact on the Moon.

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began the observations approximately 30 minutes before the impact, and through the control of its orbit, it passed several times over the point of impact, carrying out a total of 8 recording sessions

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) announced that the Danuri satellite, nicknamed 'Danuri,' began its observations about 30 minutes prior to the scheduled impact. By meticulously controlling its orbit, the satellite passed over the impact site multiple times, conducting a total of eight recording sessions to document the event.

NASA confirmed the lunar impact, characterizing it as a safe event with no risk to Earth or ongoing lunar missions. The agency explained that the impact occurred due to an unforeseen combination of solar activity and gravitational forces that inadvertently altered the rocket stage's trajectory. This particular upper stage was associated with a 2025 launch intended to deploy Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost One lunar lander, a mission conducted under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

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NASA did not deliberately plan for this upper stage to impact the Moon.

NASA officials clarified that the impact was not deliberately planned. They noted that the disposal of space hardware in this manner is an accepted practice within lunar operations. The agency also reminded the public that the Moon has a long history of impacts, having experienced them consistently over its approximately 4 billion years of existence.

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this type of hardware disposal is an accepted practice within lunar operations.