Artemis II crew take 'spectacular' image of Earth

Nasa has released the first high-resolution images of Earth taken by the Artemis II crew. The crew is on a trip around the Moon.

Mission commander Reid Wiseman took the "spectacular" photos. This happened after the crew finished an engine burn that sent them towards the Moon.

Hello, World and Other Views

The first image, called "Hello, World," shows the Atlantic Ocean. It has a thin glow from the atmosphere as Earth blocks the Sun. Green auroras are visible at both poles.

The Earth appears upside down in the photo. The western Sahara and Iberian peninsula are on the left. Eastern South America is on the right. Nasa identified Venus as the bright planet at the bottom right.

Wiseman also took a picture titled "Artemis II Looking Back at Earth." It shows Earth from one of the Orion spacecraft's four main windows.

Another image by Wiseman shows the divide between night and day on Earth. This line is called the terminator.

Journey to the Moon

The images were taken after the crew completed a trans-lunar injection burn. This burn took the Orion spacecraft out of Earth's orbit. The four astronauts are traveling over 200,000 miles to the Moon.

Artemis II is now on a path that will take the crew around the far side of the Moon and back. This is the first time humans have traveled outside Earth's orbit since 1972.

The crew is expected to pass the far side of the Moon on April 6. They should return to Earth on April 10.

After the burn, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen told mission control that the crew was "glued to the windows" taking pictures. He noted they had a "beautiful view of the dark side of the Earth, lit by the Moon."

Wiseman later asked mission control how to clean the windows. The astronauts' excitement had left them dirty. He also mentioned that taking pictures from such a distance made it hard to adjust exposure settings. He compared it to trying to photograph the Moon from your backyard.