Artemis Astronauts Witness Stunning Lunar Farside and Earthrise Views

Four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission completed a historic lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, capturing unprecedented views of the moon’s far side and breaking the record for the farthest humans have traveled into space.

While soaring in the Orion spacecraft, the crew reached an estimated distance of 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the previous record set by the Apollo 13 mission. The spacecraft came within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface during the flyby.

The crew consisted of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Lunar Observations and Visual Phenomena

The flyby lasted seven hours, during which the astronauts observed the moon’s far side, with approximately 21% of the terrain illuminated by the sun from their perspective. The crew captured an Earthset at 6:41 p.m. ET on April 6, 2026, a moment when Earth appeared to dip out of view behind the opposite edge of the moon.

This event served as a re-creation of the iconic Earthrise photograph from the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, though the Artemis II crew witnessed the planet disappearing rather than re-emerging. The crew also captured images of an Earthrise as they rounded the far side.

On the evening of April 6, 2026, the astronauts became the first people to view a solar eclipse from the moon. The phenomenon occurred toward the end of the flyby as the sun slipped behind the moon, leaving the moon darkened with the sun’s corona glowing around the edges.

Scientific Data Collection

Working in two shifts over approximately five hours, the crew took about 10,000 photographs of the lunar surface. NASA’s science team trained the astronauts to identify specific geological features, including impact craters and ancient lava flows.

Among the features identified in the imagery were:

• The Hertzsprung Basin, which appears as two concentric rings.
• The ringed Orientale Basin, one of the youngest large impact craters on the moon, which had never been seen by human eyes prior to this mission.
• Two newly named craters known as Integrity and Carroll.

The astronauts also documented the moon’s rugged terrain, vast dark plains, and sprawling impact craters.

Mission Technicals and Future Goals

The mission encountered a planned communication blackout lasting approximately 40 minutes as the Orion spacecraft transited behind the moon.

This flyby is a primary step in the broader Artemis programme, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on the moon and pave the way for future lunar landings.