The Artemis II crew is now halfway to the Moon as they take a 'spectacular' image of Earth

The image, titled Hello, World, shows Earth as seen from the Orion capsule.

NASA/Reid Wiseman An image of Earth from space, which centers the planet against the dark backdrop of space. It is a round, blue planet. Clouds are visible and a fine green aurora at the top. — The image, titled Hello, World, shows Earth as seen from the Orion capsule.

NASA has shared the first high-resolution images of Earth taken by the Artemis II crew as it passes halfway between Earth and the Moon.

Mission commander Reid Wiseman took the “spectacular” images, NASA says, after the crew completed a final engine burn that put it on a trajectory toward our nearest celestial neighbor.

At around 07:00 BST, NASA’s online dashboard indicated that the Orion spacecraft was now 142,000 miles (228,500 km) from Earth and 132,000 miles from the Moon.

The first image, titled Hello, World, shows the vast expanse of blue that is the Atlantic Ocean, framed by a glow from the atmosphere as Earth eclipses the Sun and green auroras at each pole.

The Earth appears upside down, with Western Sahara and the Iberian Peninsula visible on the left and the eastern part of South America on the right.

NASA has identified the bright planet in the lower right as Venus.

Wiseman also took this photo, titled Artemis II Looking Back at Earth, from one of the Orion spacecraft’s four main windows.

NASA/Reid Wiseman An image of the interior of the Orion capsule, which shows a small window and part of the Earth outside. — Wiseman also took this photo, titled Artemis II Looking Back at Earth, from one of the Orion spacecraft’s four main windows.

The images were taken after the crew completed a successful translunar injection burn in the early hours of Friday.

The burn knocked the Orion spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit as the four astronauts on board aim to travel more than 200,000 miles to the Moon.

Artemis II is now on a looping path that will transport the crew around the far side of the Moon and back. This is the first time since 1972 that humans have traveled outside Earth’s orbit.

The crew is expected to circle the far side of the Moon on April 6 and return to Earth on April 10.

Another image taken by the crew shows the separation between night and day, known as the terminator, crossing Earth.

NASA Half the Earth — Another image taken by the crew shows the separation between night and day, known as the terminator, crossing Earth.

Once the burn was complete, the crew was “glued to the windows” taking photos, said mission specialist Jeremy Hansen at Mission Control in Houston.

“We have a beautiful view of the dark side of the Earth, lit by the Moon,” he said.

Wiseman then called Mission Control back in Houston to ask how to clean the windows, because the astronauts’ enthusiasm for seeing into space had gotten them dirty.

The commander initially had difficulty taking photos of our planet from the spacecraft, saying that taking photos from such a distance made it difficult to adjust exposure settings.

“It’s like going home and trying to take a picture of the moon,” he told Mission Control. “That’s how it feels right now.”

But that’s no longer a problem.

Another view captured by Wiseman shows Earth divided between night and day. This boundary between light and darkness is known as the terminator.

Lights twinkle at night as Earth completely obscures the Sun

NASA/Reid Wiseman Lights twinkle at night as Earth completely obscures the Sun in this image taken from the Orion space capsule. — Lights twinkle at night as Earth completely obscures the Sun

Later, NASA released another image showing Earth in near-total darkness, with humanity’s electric lights flickering during the night.

It also produced a side-by-side comparison of the 2026 view of Earth and a similar view taken by the Apollo 17 team in 1972 – the last time humans set foot on the Moon.

“We’ve come a long way in the last 54 years, but one thing hasn’t changed: our house looks beautiful from space!” he wrote.