Artemis II crew captures stunning Earthrise and Milky Way views from lunar orbit

Nasa’s Artemis II astronauts have captured a stunning new Earthrise image, Earth appearing to rise over the Moon’s horizon, while orbiting the far side of the Moon, the space agency announced on X on Thursday.

In the photograph, released by Nasa, our blue planet appears as a delicate crescent against the stark lunar landscape, reminiscent of the Earthrise shot captured by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders during the first crewed lunar orbit in 1968.


The photograph was captured by the crew on Monday as the Orion spacecraft emerged from behind the Moon during a near‑seven‑hour flyby of its far side. Taken by the Artemis II crew using onboard cameras, the view shows Earth rising above the lunar horizon and the stark terrain of the Moon on the right side of the frame.


The Artemis II astronauts on Tuesday, also captured a striking new image of the Milky Way while returning from the successful lunar flyby. The photograph shows a dense starfield filled with thousands of stars and glowing clouds of interstellar dust, offering a rare view of our galaxy from beyond Earth’s atmosphere.


The lunar flyby was the highlight of Artemis II’s nearly ten‑day test mission and marked a record‑setting milestone in human spaceflight. The spacecraft reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles (406,771 km) from Earth—surpassing the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

During the close encounter with the Moon, the crew also observed a rare solar eclipse and spent time photographing impact craters and other features of the lunar surface as part of the mission’s observation phase.

Launched on April 1 from Florida atop Nasa’s Space Launch System rocket, Artemis II is now headed back toward Earth. A Pacific Ocean splashdown is scheduled for Friday, ending the first crewed lunar mission in more than five decades.

The mission is a key step in Nasa’s Artemis program, aimed at sustainable lunar exploration and laying groundwork for eventual human missions to Mars.