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The Artemis II crew captured many of the best images from space during its historic mission to the moon.
A number of images taken by astronauts include never-before-seen views of the moon, a total solar eclipse and a stunning image of Earth. They also sent home many photos showing what it was like to live inside the Orion capsule on their journey to the moon and back.
Here are some of the best photos of those photos.
Earth from space
One of the first crew photos, NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman took this picture of Earth from the window of the Orion spacecraft last Friday.
During the lunar flyby, the Artemis II crew captured these images of Earth from that orbit The famous Apollo 8 “Earthrise” was shot from 1968.
The Moon and beyond
The crew captured this close-up image of the near side of the moon as the Orion spacecraft approached for a lunar flyby. The near side is characterized by dark spots of ancient lava, according to NASA.
This fully illuminated view of the Moon shows the near side (the view we see from Earth) on the right, while on the left is the far side of the moon, a hemisphere we don’t see because the moon rotates on its axis at the same rate as the Earth.
The Artemis II crew captured this image during nearly three hours of lunar observation as it flew around the moon’s far side, showing its rugged landscape of craters, ridges and basins.
This image shows the Vavilov Crater on the edge of the oldest and largest Hertzsprung crater on the moon.
The crew also saw a solar eclipse from space during the flight. From the crew’s perspective, the moon appeared large enough to block the sun completely “creating about 54 total minutes and extending the view far beyond what is possible on Earth,” according to NASA.
The crew of Artemis II used eclipse mirrors to bring it in safely.
The crew also captured this beautiful image of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Life in Orion
The group took a break from watching the moon to take this group selfie.
This photo of Jeremy Hansen shaving shows a moment of self-care.
Mission technician Christina Koch looks out of one of the spacecraft’s windows at Earth in one of the first images from the Artemis II mission.
After successfully completing their orbit around the moon, the crew hugged as a team on Tuesday as the spacecraft returned to Earth.
