Moon Joy: Photos from Artemis II
NASA
Earthset, April 6, 2026, as seen by the crew of NASA’s Artemis II spacecraft as it swung around the far side of the moon.
Reid Wiseman / NASA
On the way to the moon, NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman took this picture of Earth from the Orion spacecraft’s window after completing the translunar-injection burn. There are two auroras (top right and bottom left), and zodiacal light (bottom right) is visible as the Earth eclipses the sun.
NASA
NASA astronaut Christina Koch is illuminated by a screen inside the darkened Orion spacecraft on the third day of the agency’s Artemis II mission, April 3, 2026. To the right, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen is seen in profile peering out of one of Orion’s windows. Lights are turned off to avoid glare on the windows.
NASA
Astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels toward the moon.
Orion snapped this high-resolution selfie in space with a camera mounted on one of its solar-array wings during a routine external inspection of the spacecraft on April 3, 2026.
NASA
A view of Earth, seen from space, on April 4, 2026.
NASA
Artemis II pilot and NASA astronaut Victor Glover peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s windows, looking back at Earth ahead of the crew’s lunar flyby on April 6, 2026.
NASA
Before going to sleep on flight day 5, the Artemis II crew snapped one more photo of the moon as it drew close in the window of the Orion spacecraft.
Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP / Getty
NASA staff pose for a group photo in the White Flight Control Room at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on April 6, 2026.
NASA
The Artemis II crew captures a portion of the moon coming into view along the terminator, the boundary between lunar day and night, where low-angle sunlight casts long, dramatic shadows across the surface. This image was captured about three hours into the crew’s lunar observation period, as they flew around the far side of the moon on the sixth day of the mission.
NASA
A close view of Vavilov Crater on the rim of the older and larger Hertzsprung basin. The right portion of the image shows the transition from smooth material within an inner ring of mountains to more rugged terrain around the rim. Vavilov and other craters and their ejecta are accentuated by long shadows at the terminator, the boundary between lunar day and night. The image was captured as the crew flew around the far side of the moon.
NASA
Artemis II crew members witness the moon eclipsing the sun on their return voyage to Earth, on April 6, 2024.
NASA
A close-up view of the moon, seen from the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II crew’s lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, during a total solar eclipse, with only part of the moon visible in the frame. Although the full lunar disk extends beyond the image, the sun’s faint corona remains visible as a soft halo of light around the moon’s edge. This cropped perspective emphasizes the scale of the alignment and reveals subtle structure in the corona during the rare, extended eclipse observed by the crew. The bright silver glint on the left edge of the image is the planet Venus. The round, dark gray feature visible along the moon’s horizon between the 9 and 10 o’clock positions is Mare Crisium, a feature visible from Earth. We see faint lunar features because light reflected off Earth provides a source of illumination.
NASA
The Artemis II crew—mission specialist Christina Koch (top left), mission specialist Jeremy Hansen (bottom left), commander Reid Wiseman (bottom right), and pilot Victor Glover (top right)—uses eclipse viewers, identical to what NASA produced for the 2023 annular eclipse and 2024 total solar eclipse, to protect their eyes at key moments during the solar eclipse they experienced during their lunar flyby. This was the first use of eclipse glasses at the moon to safely view a solar eclipse.