New Lunar Flyby Images Released | NASA Artemis II Moon Mission
Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is in nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region.
The Orion spacecraft is seen in the foreground lit up by the Sun. A waxing gibbous Moon is visible in the background. Orientale basin, a 600-mile-wide impact crater ringed by mountains, is visible toward the center bottom of the Moon. This basin straddles the Moon’s near and far sides. To the left of Orientale, which has a patch of ancient lava in its basin, is the far side; this is the hemisphere we don’t get to see from Earth. To the right of Orientale is the near side, the hemisphere we see every day from Earth. The nearside is notable for giant, dark patches of ancient lave flows that cover its surface.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen in the foreground, lit up by the Sun. A first quarter Moon is visible behind it, with sunlight coming from the right. Near the bottom right edge of the Moon, Orientale basin stands out with a black patch of ancient lava in its center. A 600-mile-wide impact crater ringed by mountains, Orientale straddles the near and far sides of the Moon.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft captures the Moon and the Earth in one frame during the Artemis II crew’s deep space journey at 6:42 p.m. ET on the sixth day of the mission. The right side of NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen lit up by the Sun. A waxing crescent Moon is visible behind it. And then, a crescent Earth, tiny compared to the Moon, is about to set below the Moon’s horizon on the right.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft captures the Moon and the Earth in one frame during the Artemis II crew’s deep space journey at 6:39 p.m. ET on the sixth day of the mission. The right side of NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen lit up by the Sun. A waxing crescent Moon is visible behind it. And then, a crescent Earth, tiny compared to the Moon, is about to set below the Moon’s horizon on the right.Earthrise captured from a camera mounted on one of the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings at 7:22 p.m. ET during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon’s far side. Earth appears as a delicate sliver with the portion on the left darkened by shadow and a portion on the right tucking away behind the Moon. A closer look reveals that the Moon occupies the bottom right portion of the photo, identifiable by the edge of it seen in visible light near the bottom corner.
The solar eclipse captured from a camera mounted on one of the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon’s far side. The science community is investigating whether the glow around the Moon is from zodiacal light—interstellar dust that is reflecting sunlight—the solar corona, or a combination of the two. Unlike minutes-long eclipses as viewed from Earth, the Artemis II crew saw the Sun hide behind the Moon for nearly an hour. In this image, Venus can be spotted on the left, and Saturn on the right of the Moon.
A portion of the Moon’s farside is seen along the terminator—the boundary between lunar day and night—where low-angle sunlight casts long shadows across the surface. A section of Orientale Basin is visible along the upper right portion of the lunar disk, its structure subtly revealed under grazing illumination. This lighting enhances contrast across the cratered terrain, highlighting variations in surface features and providing insight into the Moon’s geologic history.
The Artemis II Mission wrapped up a historic seven-hour lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, marking humanity’s first return to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and capturing images of the lunar far side. During their nearly 10-day mission, the crew completed a record-setting lunar flyby, taking them 252,756 miles at their farthest distance from Earth and 4,067 miles above the lunar surface at their closest approach.
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.
The first crewed test flight of NASA’s Artemis program lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), April 1, 2026, carrying the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half a century.
Artemis II splashed down at 8:07 p.m. April 10 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. Following splashdown and recovery, the four crew members underwent post-mission medical evaluations before returning to shore and boarding an aircraft bound for Houston. Upon arrival, the crew was welcomed by and reunited with their families, friends, and agency workforce.
Under Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Image Dates: April 6-7, 2026
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NASA’s Orion spacecraft captures the Moon and the Earth in one frame during the Artemis II crew’s deep space journey at 6:39 p.m. ET on the sixth day of the mission. The right side of NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen lit up by the Sun. A waxing crescent Moon is visible behind it. And then, a crescent Earth, tiny compared to the Moon, is about to set below the Moon’s horizon on the right.
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