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The Artemis II crew captured many incredible photos from space during their historic lunar mission.
The dozens of images taken by the astronauts include never before seen views of the moon, a total solar eclipse and a stunning shot of Earth. They also sent home plenty of photos showing what life inside the Orion capsule has been like on their trip to the moon and back.
Here are some of the best of those photographs.
Earth from space
One of the first images from the crew, NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman took this picture of Earth from the Orion spacecraft’s window last Friday.
During their flyby of the moon, the Artemis II crew captured these images of Earth that channel Apollo 8’s famous “Earthrise” shot from 1968.
The Moon and beyond
The crew captured this close-up shot of the moon’s near side as their Orion spacecraft approached for a lunar flyby. The near side is characterized by dark patches of ancient lava, according to NASA.
This fully illuminated view of the Moon shows the near side (the view we can see from Earth) on the right, while on the left is the far side of the moon, the hemisphere we don’t get to see because the moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that it orbits Earth.
The Artemis II crew captured this image about three hours into their lunar observation period as they flew around the far side of the moon, showing its rugged topography of craters, ridges and basins.
This image shows the Vavilov Crater on the rim of the older and larger Hertzsprung basin on the surface of the moon.
The crew also got to see an eclipse from space during their flyby. From the crew’s perspective, the moon appeared large enough to completely block the sun “creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth,” according to NASA.
The Artemis II crew used eclipse glasses to safely take it in.
The crew also captured this spectacular photo of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Life aboard the Orion
The crew took a break from observing the moon to take this group selfie.
This photo of Jeremy Hansen shaving shows a moment of space self-care.
Mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the spacecraft’s windows at Earth in one of the earliest images from the Artemis II mission.
After successfully completing their trip around the moon, the crew had a group hug on Tuesday as their spacecraft made its way back to Earth.
