science
Before and after shots of Elon's ejecta snapped by Danuri
The race for the first before-and-after images of the spent SpaceX rocket on the Moon has been won by the South Korean space agency.The Korean Aerospace Administration (KASA) posted imagery from its Danuri lunar orbiter showing the impact site on the Moon on August 6. The impact was predicted to occur on August 5, and marked a landing on the Moon for SpaceX several years ahead of schedule, just without humans onboard and traveling a good deal faster than planned.
The words "crater" and "SpaceX" are not something investors nervously tracking the company's stock price following the weeks since its IPO will want to think about.
The impact came on the fourth anniversary of Danuri's launch, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It took a few months for the probe to reach the Moon, and its initial one-year mission has since been extended twice – most recently through 2027. The plan is currently for Danuri to intentionally make its own impact crater in March 2028.
