NASA dumps 12,217 new photos from Artemis II mission. Here are some of them
Artemis II photos of Earth, Moon and space continue to amaze and inspire awe. NASA just released over 12,000 photos from the mission, most of them duplicates you would typically see in your mobile phone album. Here are some mind-blowing photos you should not miss.
NASA dumps over 12,000 Artemis II photos
NASA dumped 12,217 new photos from the Artemis II mission over the weekend. These include all kinds of images, including blanks that were apparently captured while changing settings on the camera. The collection looks just like the inside of the album on our phones, with duplicates and bad shots taking up space.
Moon and Earth images
Scouring through all of these photos is not possible, but you also definitely do not want to miss looking at them. There are Moon and Earth images as seen by the astronauts from Orion.
Artemis II astronauts
The historic moon mission took four astronauts - Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen to the farthest point in space.
Orion goes to the far side
After Orion reached its destination, it flung around the far side of the Moon for a return assist. This manoeuvre took the crew 7,500 kilometres beyond the lunar surface.
Far side of the Moon
The Artemis II astronauts saw parts of the Moon that no human has ever seen. They saw the far side with some visibly illuminated regions. Since the Moon is tidally locked to Earth's gravity, we only see the near side from our planet.
Solar eclipse from space
The crew also saw the Moon eclipsing the Sun, with the dark rocky body completely covering our star as Orion went behind the lunar body.
Earthset from Moon
They also saw Earth setting behind the Moon as Orion moved to the far side for the gravity assist manoeuvre.
Victor Glover on approaching the far side of the Moon
"As we get close to the nearest point to the moon and the farthest point from Earth, as we continue to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos, I would like to remind you of one of the most important mysteries there on Earth, and that's love."
Christina Koch reflecting on the view from deep space
"The thing that changed for me, looking back at Earth, was that I found myself noticing not only the beauty of Earth, but how much blackness there was around it and how it just made it even more special. It truly emphasised how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive. We evolved on the same planet, and we have some shared things about how we love and live that are just universal."
Jeremy Hansen on the scale of the universe
"To get big things done like we're doing in this capsule, to travel to the moon, to fly around the moon, you need a big team behind you."
Reid Wiseman on the majesty of deep space and the fear of reentry
"Being 252,000 miles away from home was the most majestic, gorgeous thing that human eyes will ever witness... But hurtling back through the atmosphere at 39 times the speed of sound, 'that is scary, and that is risky.'"
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