Photo: RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP / Getty Images
The first-ever photo of Earth taken from the far side of the moon has been released by the Artemis II crew, marking a major milestone in space exploration. The image, captured during the mission's lunar flyby, shows a solar eclipse and a breathtaking view of the planet from a vantage point never seen before by humans.
The Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen, became the first people since 1972 to travel beyond low-Earth orbit after launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday (April 1). Their Orion spacecraft, named “Integrity,” performed a flawless trans-lunar injection burn, sending them on a 10-day journey around the moon and back.
The photo, part of a series of high-resolution images, was taken as the Orion capsule passed over 4,700 nautical miles beyond the moon’s far side. NASA shared the image, titled "Earthset," which shows the Earth beyond the lunar horizon.
The photo is reminiscent of the iconic Earthrise image taken by astronaut Bill Anders on December 24, 1968 as the Apollo 8 crew flew around the Moon.
During their six-hour observation on the moon’s far side on Monday (April 6), the astronauts were able to witness a total solar eclipse as the moon blocked the sun from their unique perspective.
The Artemis II mission is planned as a test flight to pave the way for future lunar landings and a permanent moon base. The crew’s flyby has already broken records, traveling farther from Earth than any humans before and surpassing the distance set by Apollo 13 in 1970.