Crew Lunar Flyby Photos | NASA Artemis II Mission
Midway through their lunar observation period, the Artemis II crew members, seen here (From left to right: Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch), pause to turn the camera around for a selfie inside the Orion spacecraft.
Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover (left), Commander Reid Wiseman (center), and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency (right) prepare for their journey around the far side of the Moon by configuring their camera equipment shortly before beginning their lunar flyby observations.
Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover, on the left, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch, on the right, gather images and observations of the lunar surface to share with the world during the lunar flyby on the sixth day of the mission. The crew spent approximately seven hours taking turns at the windows of the Orion spacecraft as they flew around the far side of the Moon. At closest approach, they came within 4,067 miles of the Moon’s surface.
Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman peers out the window of the Orion spacecraft just as his first lunar observation period of the day begins. Throughout the course of the sixth day of the mission, Wiseman and his crewmates took turns at the windows, capturing images and video of the Moon, along with recorded observations. The astronauts are members of the science team, and the data they collect will support lunar science.
Astronaut Jeremy Hansen captures an image through the camera shroud covering window 2 of the Orion spacecraft. The camera shroud, essentially a curtain with a hole for the lens to pass through, is used to prevent light from the cabin from reflecting on the windowpanes.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen is seen taking images through the Orion spacecraft window early in the Artemis II lunar flyby.
Artemis II emblem
The Artemis II Mission wrapped up a historic seven-hour lunar flyby, marking humanity’s first return to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and capturing images of the lunar far side. As they flew over the Moon’s far side, the crew photographed and described terrain features including impact craters, ancient lava flows, and surface cracks and ridges formed as the Moon slowly evolved over time. They also noted color, brightness and texture, providing clues that help scientists understand the composition and history of the lunar surface. The crew witnessed an “Earthset”—the moment Earth dropped below the lunar horizon—as Orion traveled behind the Moon and an “Earthrise” as the spacecraft emerged from the opposite edge of the Moon.
As the lunar observation period ended, the crew witnessed a nearly hour-long solar eclipse as the spacecraft, the Moon and the Sun aligned. With a view of a mostly darkened Moon, the crew analyzed the solar corona—the Sun’s outermost atmosphere—as it appeared around the Moon’s edge.
During the eclipse, the crew had an opportunity to look for some rarely seen phenomena that are only visible on an unlit portion of the Moon. They reported six light flashes created by meteoroids impacting the lunar surface while traveling many thousands of miles per hour.
Scientists already are looking forward to the images, along with the many others taken during the flyby. After the lunar data is downlinked from the spacecraft overnight, scientists will look at images, audio, and other data to determine better times and locations of the flashes and seek input from amateurs who were observing the Moon at the same time.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist onboard launched on the Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s Artemis II Mission is taking Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard their Orion spacecraft.
Track NASA’s Artemis II Mission in real time:
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis-ii/arow/
Check the Artemis blog for updates:
Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Date: April 6, 2026
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