NASA’s view Artemis II Mission around the Moon in 12 stunning photos
Artemis II Every moment of the mission’s 10-day journey around and back around the Moon was captured in stunning photographs. Here are our 12 favorite images
NASA launches four astronauts on a pioneering journey around the Moon Artemis II Objective. Follow our coverage here.
Artemis II The Moon mission may end after a 10-day trip around the Moon and return. But thankfully, the mission crew – Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – as well as NASA cameras on Earth and in space captured their courageous journey from start to finish.
In fact, the mission was told to the world largely through photographs, particularly those from Monday’s capstone lunar flyby. From the moment the Orion spacecraft left the launchpad last Wednesday, each milestone was made timeless with stunning, perspective-shattering visuals that were sent to Earth via the Orion spacecraft’s novel laser-based communications system.
Here’s a look at twelve of our favorite photos from the mission, including photos of the Moon that have inspired billions of people to look at the night sky in a new way.
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1. Launch Day
Thousands of people descended on Florida’s Space Coast on Wednesday, April 1, to watch the launch of the first manned Moon mission since 1972. The launch went smoothly, and within a few hours the astronauts were in a controlled orbit, preparing themselves to take off on their way to the Moon the next day.
2. Spaceship Earth
On Tuesday, April 2, the Orion spacecraft burned 6,700 pounds of fuel to exit Earth orbit and head toward its distant target. Committed to their long journey, the astronauts looked out the capsule windows at the ever-shrinking Earth.
3. Terminator
As the sixth day of the mission began, lunar observations began with impressive sightings of light and shadow at the “terminator” – the boundary between the Moon’s day and night hemispheres. Glover told Houston Mission Control, “I wish I had some more time to sit here and describe what I’m seeing, but The Terminator is just too awesome.” Luckily, we have such pictures to visualize this spectacle.
4. Orientale Basin
There are several far-reaching features that lunar scientists can’t wait to see for the first time. Satellite images cannot convey some details that the human eye can, such as the colors and topography of some features on the Moon. Kelsey Young, NASA’s lunar science lead for the mission, described the Orientale Basin as particularly interesting and hoped the astronauts would shed new light on it. It is a major asteroid impact crater that has taught planetary scientists a lot about what such impacts look like throughout the Solar System.
5. The setting of the earth
In 1968, apollo 8 Astronaut William Anders took an accidental photo of Earth peeking from behind the far side of the Moon – known as Earthrise, an iconic image of our planet that has inspired space enthusiasts and environmental advocates alike. There were high expectations from the Orion crew to transmit something of similar beauty. And while they captured Earthrise, perhaps the best photo compared to the 1968 image is the stunning Earthset.
6. A New View of Earth
This indescribable photo of both the Moon and Earth in the shadow, taken at 6:41 pm EDT on Monday, April 6, has become a sensation. It is called “A New View of Earth”.
7. Family portrait
Pictures taken from Orion’s external camera on the far side of the moon showed the immense distance between the astronauts and home, with our smaller moon in the foreground and Earth visible as a small crescent at the edge of the frame.
8. Eclipse with planets
Even after astronauts experienced Earth’s rise, the miracles were not over. Astronauts also witnessed a rare solar eclipse from space on Monday. The astronauts could see Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Venus and countless stars amid the sudden blackness caused by the Moon’s shadowing the Sun. This photo shows the first three of those four planets (from left to right), along with a barely visible Neptune in the middle.
9. Solar eclipse of the heart
In this photo, Earth moves left behind the Moon, saturating the frame with its “Earthshine” – light from the planet, just like sunlight.
10. Bringing it in
With the difficult flyby science behind them on Tuesday, the crew finally had a moment to celebrate. Thanks to his hard work the main goal of the mission was an unexpected success.
11. Sniping!
At 8:07 a.m. EDT on Friday, Orion’s crew touched down safely and on schedule, completing a mission filled with unprecedented science and historic firsts.
12. The happiness of the moon comes home
When Navy divers carefully retrieved the astronauts from their floating craft and brought them to the USS John P. Murtha, millions of people around the world rejoiced as they celebrated their successful return.
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