Breathtaking views of Earth captured from space during Artemis II

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman peeped through the window of their cosmic home, Orion, to wave a hello to Mother Earth. This picture was captured when the Orion with the Artemis II crew aboard moved towards the Moon. Wiseman peered through one of the cabin windows of the Orion Spacecraft as he could spot the blue planet in all its glory. The brownish spot visible on the Earth marks the Sahara Desert as it can be seen from space.

This is a shot of nighttime Earth from April 2, 2026. As the Orion with the crew of the Artemis II onboard stepped into outer space, one of the crew members clicked their home planet from one of the cabin windows of their cosmic vehicle. 

After Orion completed its translunar injection (engine) burn. Immediately after this maneuver, Orion was no longer circling Earth. It was officially on a path to travel to the Moon and then return to Earth.

We are all familiar with the rotation of the Earth when we experience day and night. But very few people have the opportunity to go into outer space and witness it for real. As the Artemis II completed its translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026, NASA astronaut and commander Reid Wiseman took the stunning image of the Sun shining brightly on one half of our planet while the other side experienced darkness.

The crew captured the Earth as the blackness of the cosmos covered up the illuminated blue planet. This image of crescent Earth was captured by the crew on the third day of their mission when they were on their way to the Moon. By then, the crew was already far enough from their home planet during the Artemis II mission to it this way.

The Artemis II has provided us with some intriguing photographs. But surely, the one that stands out is the snap of the dark side of the Earth. While travelling around the Moon, the Orion spacecraft stumbled upon a backlit Earth experiencing nighttime. Without wasting time, Commander Reid Wiseman snapped our home planet, which was half-illuminated. Wiseman took this photo following the completion of the translunar injection burn. 

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman clicked this picture of Earth from the cabin window of Orion. The image was captured on April 2, 2026, when the translunar engine burned down and the crew geared up to take a lap around the Moon and return to their home planet.

On Earth, the moonrise and moonset are quite the events. But while the Artemis II crew was in space, our blue planet itself took the place of the Moon. As the Orion spacecraft completed its seven-hour flyby around our natural satellite, this particular shot of Earth was captured from the far side of it. Interestingly, this particular snap was reminiscent of the famous Earthrise picture captured by the Apollo 8 astronauts back in 1968. 

As the Orion spacecraft continued with their lunar flyby, this picture was captured just six minutes before Earthset. As our planet Earth was experiencing a crescent phase, the daytime could be observed in the Australia and Oceania regions. The weather, too, appeared significantly clear, with visible blue skies and light cloud cover. Contrastingly, the moon’s surface looked rugged, with its crater chains visible.