Stunning first glimpse of Earth sent by Artemis crew
This is how planet Earth looks to the Artemis II astronauts.
The crew travelling on board the Artemis II rocket have sent through the first images of Earth as it looks from their POV.
The surreal snaps were taken by the NASA astronaut and Artemis Commander Reid Wiseman, who is one of the four-strong team on their way to the moon.
It shows the backlit Earth from the Orion spacecraft’s window after it completed the translunar injection burn, which took the rocket out of Earth’s orbit.
Eagle-eyed viewers can spot two auroras on the top right and bottom left, with a zodiacal light glimmering on the background as the Earth eclipses the Sun.
A second image shows the view from one of the Orion’s four windows.
The crew said seeing the first glimpse of Earth was a jaw-dropping moment.
Wiseman said: ‘We could see the entire globe from pole to pole. You could see Africa, Europe and if you looked really closely, you could see the northern lights.
It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks.’
By Friday evening, the crew was around 100,000km from Earth, NASA said in an update.
The on-the-ground team revealed how the crew are doing on the third day since the launch.
They were ‘not comfortable’ at first during the lift-off, when the cabin temperature reached around 18°C before the shell heaters were turned on.
The teams also assured that the small water spillage on the Orion, which the crew had been mopping up was normal dribble from the portable water dispenser.
NASA said: ‘We see our home planet as a whole, lit up in spectacular blues and browns. A green aurora even lights up the atmosphere. That’s us, together, watching as our astronauts make their journey to the Moon.’
Read here how long it will take for the astronauts to reach the moon.
These are the first two images shared to the world aboard the historic Moon mission.
Wiseman is heading to the moon and back with Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.
The crew are inching closer towards the moon inside the spacecraft, which has been described as cosy after taking off from Florida on April 1.
They will be carrying out all their daily duties inside the 330-cubic-foot capsule – roughly the size of a minivan.
It will be their home for 10 days until it plunges back on Earth and into the Pacific Ocean.
The astronauts have all gone through special cosmic toilet training to deal with the pesky lack of gravity.
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