GoKawiilA picture taken by the Artemis II crew on 6 April shows the Earth setting behind the Moon.Credit: NASA
NASA Johnson Space Center
Breathtaking photos are coming down to Earth from NASA’s historic Artemis II mission after its four astronauts flew around the far side of the Moon on 6 April — at distances farther from Earth than any humans have ever travelled.
One image shows ‘Earthset’ — a crescent Earth, glimmering blue and white, just before it disappeared behind the lunar horizon as seen from the Integrity spacecraft. Another shows an ethereal solar eclipse, with the Sun’s wispy outer atmosphere radiating out from behind the Moon.
Both are unique views enabled by the journey into deep space. The extraordinary, six-plus-hour fly-by saw the astronauts marvelling at the celestial panorama of the Moon, Earth and Sun.
“The Moon really is its own unique body in the Universe,” said astronaut and mission specialist Christina Koch. “It’s not just a poster in the sky that goes by — it’s a real place.”
The Earthset image, released by NASA on the morning of 7 April, is framed similarly to the iconic ‘Earthrise’ image taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts on humanity’s first flight around the Moon, in 1968. “No one likes to think of the Earth setting, so it’s presented as an Earthrise,” says Robert Poole, a historian at the University of Lancashire in Preston, UK, and author of the 2008 book Earthrise.
An actual Artemis II Earthrise image shows the crescent Earth emerging from behind the Moon’s disk, its illuminated tips pointing away from the Moon like the horns of a bull.
‘Earthrise’ was captured by the Artemis II crew during its historic fly-by of the Moon. The bright surface of Earth is obscured (top) by the Moon.Credit: NASA
The Artemis II eclipse image was taken as the Moon moved in front of the Sun from the astronauts’ perspective. During the nearly 54-minute eclipse, the astronauts observed the solar atmosphere from a vantage point few humans have had access to. “There’s no adjectives,” said commander Reid Wiseman about the eclipse. “I’m going to need to invent some new ones to describe what we are looking at out this window.”
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