Artemis II: Lunar Journey and Stunning First Images of Earth

NASA has released the first images of Earth captured by the astronauts of the Artemis II mission as they travel toward the moon. These photographs, taken from the Orion spacecraft, mark the first time humans have traveled outside of Earth’s orbit since 1972.

The images were captured by mission commander Reid Wiseman using a tablet, which NASA identifies as a Personal Computing Device. The photography occurred after the crew successfully completed a trans-lunar injection burn in the early hours of Friday, April 4, 2026, which set the Orion capsule on its trajectory toward the moon.

Technical Details of the First Lunar-Bound Imagery

One of the primary images, titled Hello, World, depicts the Atlantic Ocean framed by the glow of the atmosphere. According to NASA, the image shows green auroras at both poles and identifies the bright planet visible in the bottom right as Venus.

Another photograph, titled Artemis II Looking Back at Earth, was taken through one of the Orion spacecraft’s four main windows. NASA mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston described these views as a reminder that no matter how far we go, we are still one world, watching, hoping and reaching higher.

The crew also captured images emphasizing Earth’s nighttime glow using a shorter shutter speed, revealing electric lights sprinkled across the globe. Other views captured the terminator, the divide between night and day, cutting across the planet.

Having just experienced incredible views of planet Earth and seeing the entire planet out the window in one pane, knowing that we’re about to have some similar views of the moon in that same way is definitely getting me more excited for it

Mission specialist Christina Koch

Crew Composition and Mission Milestones

The Artemis II mission consists of four astronauts traveling aboard the Orion crew capsule, which was launched atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The crew includes:

• Reid Wiseman, Mission Commander
• Christina Koch, Mission Specialist
• Victor Glover, Mission Specialist
• Jeremy Hansen, Canadian Space Agency astronaut

The mission is establishing several historical milestones. Christina Koch is the first woman to travel near the moon, Victor Glover is the first Black man to do so, and Jeremy Hansen is the first Canadian to venture into the lunar vicinity.

Trajectory and Future Objectives

The astronauts are currently on a 10-day journey that will carry them more than 200,000 miles from Earth. The mission is following a looping path that will take the crew around the far side of the moon on April 6, 2026, before they return to Earth on April 10, 2026.

This mission serves as a critical precursor to future lunar exploration. The primary objective of the Artemis II flight is to set the stage for a crewed moon landing, which NASA aims to achieve as early as 2028.

The long-term goals of the multibillion-dollar Artemis campaign include the establishment of a permanent lunar base. This infrastructure is intended to support future operations and serve as a stepping stone for the first crewed missions to Mars.