NASA releases stunning Earth images captured on way to the Moon

NASA has released a striking new set of high-resolution images of Earth, taken through the window of the Orion capsule as the Artemis II crew continues its journey to the Moon. One of the first images was taken by commander Reid Wiseman after Orion completed its translunar injection burn, with NASA saying the photograph shows Earth alongside two auroras and zodiacal light. Another newly released image shows Wiseman looking back at Earth from one of Orion’s main cabin windows as the spacecraft travels deeper into space.

Artemis II is NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission and the first time humans have travelled beyond Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission is designed as a crewed lunar flyby, with the astronauts travelling around the Moon and returning to Earth without landing on the lunar surface. NASA says the flight will test Orion and the Space Launch System in the deep-space environment ahead of future lunar surface missions.

The Artemis II crew consists of Reid Wiseman as commander, Victor Glover as pilot, Christina Koch as mission specialist, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen as mission specialist. NASA describes the mission as an approximately 10-day flight around the Moon and back.