
NASA has shared the first breathtaking views of Earth taken from the Artemis II mission as the crew continues its journey toward the moon.
The photos reveal Earth behind the Orion spacecraft, our home planet aglow with aurora.
One photo of Earth, taken Thursday by Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman from the Orion window, shows the planet backlit, with auroras visible at the top right and bottom left, Lakiesha Hawkins, deputy director for NASA’s Artemis program, said Friday during a news conference.
A zodiacal light is also visible at the bottom right as the Earth eclipses the sun, she said.
Another photo of Earth, also taken by Wiseman, shows a terminator line, meaning the line separating daylight and nighttime on the planet.
“What an amazing shot that he shared with us here,” she said.
The photos were taken after completing the translunar injection burn Thursday.
Hawkins said Friday, the third day of the Artemis II mission, that so far systems are normal and “the crew is in great spirit.”
The four crew members — NASA astronauts Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — launched Wednesday on the 10-day mission.
As of Friday, the crew is more than 100,000 miles from Earth, with about 150,000 miles to go to the moon.
The mission does not include a lunar landing, but is designed as a step toward a landing in 2028.
The next major milestone for the space pioneers will be Monday, when the crew is expected to fly around the moon.
That flyby could mark the farthest venture from Earth made by humans, surpassing the distance record of 248,655 miles set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
latest_posts
- 1
Swap The Amalfi Coast For This Low-Cost Ligurian Seaside Town - 2
Recent studies prove the ancient practice of nasal irrigation is effective at fighting the common cold - 3
10 Demonstrated Tips to Expand Your New Android Cell phone: A Thorough Aide - 4
Exploring the Difficulties of Co-Nurturing: Individual Bits of knowledge - 5
A company is trying to unlock a key to aging, in a long-overlooked body part
Top 10 Books That Will Have an impact on Your Viewpoint
Misjudged Objections For Solo Voyagers
Did we start the fire? A 400,000-year-old hearth sparks new questions about human evolution
They died 'doing what they loved': The stories of workers in their 80s who died on the job
Physicists and philosophers have long struggled to understand the nature of time: Here's why
'Outrageous and illegal' : UNRWA slams Israel for cutting off its water, comms and electric in Gaza
Gulf aluminum output tumbles on Iran war
Record-breaking 'space laser' erupts from merging galaxies 8 billion light-years away
Famous Rough terrain Vehicles for 2024













