The European Space Agency’s (ESA) SMART-1 orbiter contacted the moon’s surface with a velocity of 2000 km/s, a characteristic size of ~1 m and a mass of 366 kg. The defect or crater formed on the Moon’s surface as a result of the impact was 6-10 m in diameter and 3 m deep. The actual size of the crater was compared with the values obtained in simulations of the impact by the FEM scheme incorporating the incubation time criterion to solve the problem of penetration related to the dynamic fracture of an initially defect-free medium. The fracture in the lower part appeared due to cleavage of the sample material as a result of the reflection of elastic waves from its lower boundary. The results show that the applicability field of the fracture incubation time is wide and there is no need to introduce different fracture criteria for various load application rates.