Yesterday, the Artemis II crew iconically introduced themselves to us by recreating the intro of Full House, and now, they've given us photographs that will never allow us to forget their journey.
While traveling around the Moon, the Artemis II crew—mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist Christina Koch, pilot Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman, and Rise, the cute zero gravity indicator—revealed every step of the way by photographing the Earth from various perspectives.
These photos appear like eclipses, based on the placement of sunlight on the Earth and Moon in these photographs.
The first photos the crew shared, as the Artemis II was passing the Moon, offered an incredible shot that we typically only see from the opposite perspective. Instead of seeing the Moon peeking around the Earth, we got to see the Earth peeking around the Moon.
The Earth appears as an incredible, bright "toenail," much like the crescent Moon.
NASA
The team also could not pass up the opportunity to show us a close-up shot of the Moon, its gray, rocky surface that usually looks white to us, and of course, its many, many impact craters.
NASA
Finally, the crew shared an immense shot that's worthy of a movie poster: a wide-angle shot that features the full width of the Moon, its illuminated surface, and the Earth's illuminated sliver peeking up over the top.
NASA
Viewers were very impressed by the photographs.
During a downlink event with media on Day 2 of the flight, some of the crew shared their thoughts.
Commander Wiseman said:
“There was a moment about an hour ago where Mission Control Houston reoriented our spacecraft as the sun was setting behind the Earth. And I don’t know what we all expected to see at that moment, but you could see the entire globe, from pole to pole."
"You could see Africa, Europe, and if you looked really close, you could see the northern lights. It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks.”
This is not the first time we've seen incredible photographs of the Earth, but these are breathtaking and offer a unique representation of the Earth's relationship with the Moon. And the Artemis II crew's flyby lasted seven hours, so while these photographs are already impressive, there's so much more to come!
