Bright Earth sinks behind the lunar disk in a wide-angle version of the Artemis 2 team’s “Earthset” image. (NASA photo)
A day after the historic flight of the Artemis 2 mission, NASA has released a stunning set of high-resolution images documenting Earthset and Earthrise, a solar eclipse that illuminates the moon, and other views of the far side of the moon and astronauts taking pictures.
The images were taken during a seven-hour lunar observation period at the far end of the Orion space capsule’s 10-day odyssey. The mission marked the first crewed trip around the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, and the longest trip ever by astronauts (252,756 miles from Earth, and more than 4,000 miles beyond the moon).
The Earthset photo was taken just as our home planet dipped below the lunar horizon, followed about 40 minutes later by a photo of Earth rising above the horizon on the other side of the moon. These images recreated the spirit of NASA’s first Earthrise image, taken by astronaut Bill Anders during the Apollo 8 lunar mission in 1968.
The original Earthrise is one of the most famous photographs of the Apollo era, but it took decades to confirm who actually took it. Anders was not the type of person to argue about interpretation. After long careers at NASA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the diplomatic corps and private industry, he settled in Western Washington and founded the Heritage Flight Museum in Burlington, Wash. Two years ago, he died in a plane crash in the waters off the San Juan Islands at the age of 90.
Anders and the original Earthrise aren’t the only links connecting Artemis 2 to the Pacific Northwest. The success of the mission depends in part on parts built in the Seattle area. Aerojet Rocketdyne’s L3Harris facility in Redmond worked on Orion’s main engine and built some of its thrusters, while Karman Space Systems’ Mukilteo facility provided components for Orion’s parachute deployment system and emergency hatch release system.
Artemis 2’s four astronauts – NASA mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission technician Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen – were scheduled for a rough time off work today as Orion heads toward the Pacific Ocean on Friday. They should have a ship-to-ship interview with the International Space Station crew at 2:40 pm ET (11:40 am PT), and you can listen on YouTube.
Meanwhile, NASA’s image processing team put in long hours through the night to work on images taken by the Artemis 2 astronauts during the flyby. Photos are posted in NASA’s lunar flight gallery. Check out these great photos, and click on the images to enjoy high-resolution views:
This image by Artemis 2 shows the moon completely eclipsed by the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the moon appears large enough to block the sun completely, creating about 54 total minutes and extending far beyond what is possible on Earth. The corona forms a bright halo around the moon’s dark disk, revealing details of the sun’s outer atmosphere that are normally obscured by its light. Also visible are the stars, which are often too faint to be seen when photographing the moon. The faint glow of the near side of the moon is visible near the left edge of the disk, due to reflected light from Earth. (NASA photo)The Artemis 2 team – Christina Koch (top left), Jeremy Hansen (bottom left), Reid Wiseman (bottom right) and Victor Glover – used eclipse glasses to protect their eyes during key moments during the eclipse. This was the first use of lunar eclipse glasses to safely observe a partial solar eclipse. Glasses were not needed during the total phase of the eclipse. (NASA photo)This image shows the sun beginning to peek behind the moon as the eclipse changes completely. Only half of the moon is visible in the frame, its curved edge reflecting the bright sunlight returning after nearly an hour of darkness. (NASA photo)Artemis 2’s Earthset image, captured as Earth sinks below the lunar horizon, is reminiscent of the classic Earthrise image taken by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders in 1968. Earthset came at the beginning of the Artemis 2 crew’s communications blackout, and was followed 40 minutes later by Earthrise’s restart of communications. (NASA photo)Our home planet appears as a soft disk in Artemis 2’s Earthrise image, captured as Earth emerges from behind the lunar disk. The moon itself has been obscured in the right part of the image. (NASA photo)This image, taken shortly before the Artemis 2 crew began their official moon observation period, enters the 600-mile-wide crater known as the Orientale Basin. The dark patch in the center of the crater is an ancient lava mass that broke through the moon’s crust in an eruption billions of years ago. The Orientale Basin lies near the transition between the near and far sides and is sometimes partially visible from Earth. The small, bright crater on the left is Byrgius, with rays 250 miles from its crater. (NASA photo)Artemis 2 pilot Victor Glover and mission technician Christina Koch peered into the darkness of the Orion spacecraft’s cabin to view the moon’s bright surface and obtain images during the lunar flyby. Over a period of about seven hours, the astronauts took turns looking out the windows of Orion as they flew around the far side of the moon. At their closest approach, they came within 4,067 kilometers of the moon’s surface. (NASA photo)
