NASA has shared the first high-resolution images of the Earth taken by the Artemis II crew as they pass the halfway point between the Earth and the Moon. The mission's commander, Reid Wiseman, took the spectacular images after the crew completed a final engine burn that set them on a trajectory towards our closest celestial neighbour.
At about 07:00 BST, NASA's online dashboard showed that the Orion spacecraft was now 142,000 miles (228,500 km) from Earth and 132,000 miles from the Moon. Astronaut Christina Koch expressed that the crew had a collective 'expression of joy' upon being informed of the milestone, hit around two days, five hours, and 24 minutes after blast-off.
The first image, titled 'Hello, World', displays the vast blue expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, framed by the atmosphere as the Earth eclipses the Sun, with green auroras visible at the poles. The Earth appears upside down, with the western Sahara and Iberian peninsula on the left and eastern South America on the right. NASA identified the bright planet as Venus at the image’s bottom right.
Wiseman also shared another image, titled 'Artemis II Looking Back at Earth', depicting a view of the Earth from within the Orion capsule. The crew took these images just after successfully completing a trans-lunar injection burn, taking the Orion spacecraft out of Earth orbit, as they aim to travel over 200,000 miles to the Moon. Artemis II is on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. The spacecraft launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is expected to pass around the far side of the Moon on April 6 and return to Earth on April 10, culminating with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
After the burn was complete, the crew was 'glued to the windows', taking pictures, as mission specialist Jeremy Hansen described the gorgeous view of the dark side of the Earth illuminated by the Moon. Wiseman later asked mission control how to clean the windows, indicating the crew's enthusiasm for viewing space had left them dirty. They also released a side-by-side comparison of views of Earth from 2026 and Apollo 17 in 1972, highlighting how beautiful our planet looks from space.
At about 07:00 BST, NASA's online dashboard showed that the Orion spacecraft was now 142,000 miles (228,500 km) from Earth and 132,000 miles from the Moon. Astronaut Christina Koch expressed that the crew had a collective 'expression of joy' upon being informed of the milestone, hit around two days, five hours, and 24 minutes after blast-off.
The first image, titled 'Hello, World', displays the vast blue expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, framed by the atmosphere as the Earth eclipses the Sun, with green auroras visible at the poles. The Earth appears upside down, with the western Sahara and Iberian peninsula on the left and eastern South America on the right. NASA identified the bright planet as Venus at the image’s bottom right.
Wiseman also shared another image, titled 'Artemis II Looking Back at Earth', depicting a view of the Earth from within the Orion capsule. The crew took these images just after successfully completing a trans-lunar injection burn, taking the Orion spacecraft out of Earth orbit, as they aim to travel over 200,000 miles to the Moon. Artemis II is on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. The spacecraft launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is expected to pass around the far side of the Moon on April 6 and return to Earth on April 10, culminating with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
After the burn was complete, the crew was 'glued to the windows', taking pictures, as mission specialist Jeremy Hansen described the gorgeous view of the dark side of the Earth illuminated by the Moon. Wiseman later asked mission control how to clean the windows, indicating the crew's enthusiasm for viewing space had left them dirty. They also released a side-by-side comparison of views of Earth from 2026 and Apollo 17 in 1972, highlighting how beautiful our planet looks from space.
