Artemis II Crew Snaps Stunning Earth Pics Halfway to the Moon!

The Artemis II mission is making history as its crew travels halfway to the Moon. The astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft have captured and shared some breathtaking images of Earth, giving everyone back home a new perspective on our planet. One of the first high-resolution photos, named 'Hello, World,' was taken by mission commander Reid Wiseman. This image shows Earth as a bright blue sphere surrounded by the darkness of space. You can see swirling clouds and a thin green aurora at the top of the planet. The photo was taken after the crew completed a crucial engine burn, which set them on the right path toward the Moon.

At the time the images were released, NASA reported that the Orion spacecraft was about 142,000 miles from Earth and 132,000 miles from the Moon. The crew reached this halfway point about two days after their launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Astronaut Christina Koch said the team felt a wave of happiness when they learned they had reached this milestone. The 'Hello, World' photo also shows the Atlantic Ocean, with the Earth's atmosphere glowing as the planet blocks the Sun. The western Sahara and Iberian Peninsula are visible on one side, while the eastern part of South America is on the other. Venus, the bright planet, can also be seen in the image.

The astronauts took these photos after successfully completing a maneuver called a trans-lunar injection burn, which pushed the Orion spacecraft out of Earth's orbit and set it on a looping path around the Moon. This is the first time since 1972 that humans have traveled so far from Earth. The crew is expected to pass around the far side of the Moon and return to Earth with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Another photo taken by the crew shows the line between night and day on Earth, called the terminator. Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said the crew was glued to the windows, taking in the view of the dark side of Earth lit by the Moon. Commander Wiseman even asked mission control how to clean the windows because they got dirty from all the excitement. NASA also released a photo showing Earth's city lights shining in the nighttime, and compared it to a similar image taken by the Apollo 17 crew in 1972. NASA wrote that while technology has changed a lot in 54 years, one thing remains the same: Earth still looks beautiful from space.