Korea's Danuri orbiter to film SpaceX rocket's collision with moon

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 39A with a payload of a pair of lunar landers at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Jan. 15, 2025. AP-Yonhap

Korea's first lunar orbiter, Danuri, is set to examine a piece of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket expected to slam into the moon this week, the country's space agency said Monday.

The piece of the rocket is expected to hit the northwestern portion near the Einstein Crater on the moon at around 3:34 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA).

It is part of the Falcon 9 rocket's upper portion that carried two lunar landers, from a U.S. and Japanese company, respectively, to the moon in January 2025.

The Danuri orbiter is expected to film the moment of impact with its Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI) high-resolution camera. The latest examination is expected to provide valuable information on the moon's surface and impact mechanism there, KASA said.