Artemis II Crew Captures Stunning Images of Earth Mid-Flight to the Moon

Sun Apr 05 2026 01:26:55 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

NASA's Artemis II crew reaches the halfway point to the Moon, sharing breathtaking images of Earth including a spectacular view featuring the Atlantic Ocean and night-time city lights.

The Artemis II crew, now halfway to the Moon, has shared high-resolution images taken from their spacecraft during their journey. Commander Reid Wiseman captured the 'Hello, World' image, highlighting Earth's vibrant atmosphere and features such as Venus. After a successful trans-lunar injection burn, the Orion spacecraft is on track to reach the Moon by April 6, 2026, marking humanity's return to deep space exploration after over five decades.

Nasa has shared the first high-resolution images of the Earth taken by the Artemis II crew as they pass the halfway point between the Earth and the Moon.

The mission's commander, Reid Wiseman, took the 'spectacular' images, Nasa says, after the crew completed a final engine burn that set them on a trajectory towards our closest celestial neighbour.

At about 07:00 BST, Nasa's online dashboard showed the Orion spacecraft was now 142,000 miles (228,500 km) from Earth, and 132,000 miles from the Moon.

Astronaut Christina Koch said the crew had a collective 'expression of joy' upon being told of the milestone, which was hit around two days, five hours and 24 minutes after blast off.

The first image, called Hello, World, shows the vast expanse of blue that is the Atlantic Ocean, framed by a glow of the atmosphere as the Earth eclipses the Sun and green auroras at either pole.

The Earth appears upside down, with the western Sahara and Iberian peninsula visible to the left and the eastern portion of South America to the right.

Nasa identified the bright planet to the bottom right as Venus.

The images were taken after the crew successfully completed a trans-lunar injection burn in the early hours of Friday.

The burn took the Orion spacecraft out of Earth orbit as the four astronauts aboard aim to travel the more than 200,000 miles to the Moon.

Artemis II is now on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled outside of the Earth's orbit.

The spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the crew should pass around the far side of the Moon on 6 April and return to Earth on 10 April with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

After the burn was completed, the crew were 'glued to the windows' taking pictures, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen told mission control in Houston.

Later, Nasa published another image showing the Earth in near-complete darkness, with the electric lights of humankind twinkling in the nighttime, alongside a comparison of views of Earth from Apollo 17 in 1972 to that of today. 'We've come so far in the last 54 years, but one thing hasn't changed: our home looks gorgeous from space!' Nasa wrote.