The crew of NASA’s Artemis II spacecraft has shared stunning new photos of Earth as they complete their mission around the Moon and back. The images were released Friday, the crew’s second day in space.
The astronauts were more than 90,000 miles out of Earth’s atmosphere when the images were snapped. They are testing the spacecraft’s systems in a deep-space environment for a total of 10 days. NASA hopes Artemis II will build momentum for future manned missions to the Moon and Mars.
The ship’s crew is made up of three Americans and a Canadian. They will orbit the Moon without landing and then head back to Earth. At their peak distance, the crew will be 250,000 miles away from Earth.
If things continue as planned, the spacecraft will land in the Pacific Ocean next week with the U.S. Navy assisting in recovery. This is the first lunar trip since Apollo 17 in 1972.
