\n After the rocket\u2019s mission was complete, SpaceX intentionally discarded the upper stage in space \u2014 but it later became clear that quirks of orbital dynamics had pushed the booster onto a collision course with the moon<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Researchers and space agencies scrambled to capture imagery of the vehicle\u2019s landing site after it hit the moon on August 5. The European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope, located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, was among the first to detect the impact. And the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, called Danuri, shared images on social media shortly after the collision.\n <\/p>\n \n NASA said it worked alongside the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) and used the preliminary data that Danuri gathered to guide a narrow-angle camera on board NASA\u2019s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and capture clearer images, which NASA released Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTo capture imagery of the impact, engineers tilted the spacecraft so its cameras would point toward the crater each time LRO passed about 60 miles above the Moon, traveling 1 mile per second,\u201d the sapce agency said in a news release Tuesday. \u201cThe orbiter circles the Moon<\/a> from pole to pole every two hours, while the Moon slowly rotates underneath it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It took six days for the LRO\u2019s orbital path to line up with the impact site, NASA noted, and additional time to process the imagery. Imaging the impact site required extreme precision, the space agency said, as even a 10-second delay in snapping a picture could cause the newly created crater to drift as much as 10 miles out of frame.\n <\/p>\n \n Though the rocket collision was unplanned, NASA researchers said the event did not pose a threat to anyone on Earth or to the lunar surface.\n <\/p>\n![\"Danuri's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kasa-2085308374112223690.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nasa-lro-falcon9impact-2026-gif-2.jpg\")
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