10 Artemis II photos that define humanity's return to the moon

Four images next to each other show the surface of the moon, a dark sphere of the moon covering the sun, four astronauts wearing eclipse glasses, and a female astronaut looking up at Earth. — Four photos snapped by the Artemis II astronauts. Clockwise from left: Earth setting behind the moon; the astronauts wearing solar eclipse glasses; Christina Koch viewing Earth from the Orion capsule; and a rare total solar eclipse viewed from behind the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

Jump to:

1. Artemis II launch
2. Spaceship Earth
3. Earth's dark side
4. Hello, world
5. The terminator
6. A moment with the moon
7. Shadows at the edge of a lunar day
8. Total solar eclipse
9. Eclipse safety first
10. Integrity comes home

Since its historic April 1 launch from Kennedy Space Center, NASA's Artemis II mission around the moon has delivered a stream of extraordinary moments, from Earth fading into the distance to a rare solar eclipse seen from deep space.

After the crew returned safely to Earth on Friday (April 10), we've collected the most remarkable images from humanity's first journey to the moon since 1972.

1. Artemis II launch

An orange and white rocket blasts off of a launchpad with a tail of yellow white flame and gray billowing smoke underneath it. — Artemis II launches from Kennedy Space Center at sunset on April 1, 2026. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The April 1 launch from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B signaled the beginning of humanity's first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17. Powered by NASA's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System, on only its second flight, Artemis II sent four astronauts on a 10-day, 695,000-mile (1.1 million kilometers) journey. The team's Orion crew capsule, nicknamed Integrity, sits at the top.

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2. Spaceship Earth

The silhouette of a woman wearing a braid is seen underneath a ceiling window showing an illuminated blue and green planet. — NASA astronaut Christina Koch gazes back at Earth from Orion en route to the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

In a mission of firsts, NASA astronaut Christina Koch became the first woman to leave Earth's orbit and travel around the moon. Here she is on April 2, peering out one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows at the delicate blue sphere of Earth. As Artemis II traveled toward the moon, Earth's continents and clouds blurred into a single living world.

3. Earth's dark side

The sphere of Earth in the darkness of space is darkened, except for a silver of light on its right edge. — A backlit Earth appears as a thin crescent after Orion's translunar injection. (Image credit: NASA)

This image of Earth with the sun behind it was taken just after Orion's translunar injection burn on April 2, in which Orion sped out of Earth orbit and toward the moon. Earth became a glowing crescent suspended in darkness, with its night side sitting in shadow, almost entirely hidden from view.

4. Hello, world

An illuminated blue and green planet Earth against the darkness of space — Earth shines brightly in sunlight shortly after Orion's departure from Earth orbit. (Image credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman)

Also captured just after Orion's boost toward the moon on April 2, this image contrasts sharply with later views. Here, a longer exposure reveals Earth's unlit side, but several other features make it unique. In addition to being the first image ever to feature auroras at both poles, it includes a crescent Earth, Venus (bottom right) and a smudge of zodiacal light (sunlight reflecting from dust in the solar system's asteroid belt).

5. The terminator

A close up of Earth in space, its top half cut diagonally in shadow, with only the bottom half illuminated. — The day-night boundary slices across Earth in dramatic contrast. (Image credit: NASA)

As Orion sped away from Earth on April 3, commander Reid Wiseman took this image of the terminator line, a sharp divide separating night from day on Earth — an everyday phenomenon transformed into a striking view from deep space.

6. A moment with the moon

A close up of the moon in space, its dark maria and light craters obvious against the gray surface — The Orientale basin dominates this detailed view of the moon's surface. (Image credit: NASA)

Seen on April 6 just before lunar flyby observations began, a vast circular scar — the 600-mile-wide (1,000 km) Orientale basin — marks one of the moon's most dramatic impact features. This lava-filled relic of ancient volcanic activity was formed by a colossal impact billions of years ago.

7. Shadows at the edge of a lunar day

A close up of the moon's surface, its gray landscape dotted by small round craters. Its left half is in shadow. — Long shadows stretch across the moon's terminator region. (Image credit: NASA)

On April 6, the crew took this image of the terminator on the moon. It's where low sunlight skims the lunar surface, casting dramatic shadows that exaggerate craters, ridges and mountains — the perfect time to study the moon's rugged terrain. According to pilot Victor Glover, who monitored the terminator line through Orion's window, the craters in front of him were so dark, they looked like "you'd fall straight to the center of the moon if you stepped in some of those."

8. Total solar eclipse

A dark sphere is backlit with streaks of white light in the darkness of space. — The moon completely blocks the sun during a unique total solar eclipse from the far side of the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

Apollo astronauts saw total solar eclipses on their way to the moon, but the Artemis II crew was the first to witness one from the moon's far side. On April 6, totality lasted an extraordinary 54 minutes from Orion, during which the crew saw the sun's corona,stars and distant planets become visible nearby. It's a vantage point impossible on Earth.

9. Eclipse safety first

Four individuals wear red and yellow eclipse glasses. All four look at the camera. — The crew uses eclipse glasses to safely observe the sun near the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

Even at the moon, safe solar viewing remains essential. Before and after totality, the four astronauts — Wiseman, Glover, Koch and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen — donned the same eclipse glasses distributed for the recent solar eclipses in North America.

10. Integrity comes home

Artemis II's Orion hitting the Pacific Ocean. — The Artemis II Integrity capsule splashed into the Pacific Ocean on Friday (April 10). (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

At 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday (Apr. 10), the Integrity capsule splashed safely into the Pacific Ocean after a nail-biting 13-minute descent through Earth's atmosphere. Soon after, a Navy recovery crew opened the capsule, welcoming its four record-setting passengers back to Earth after their historic mission to the moon.

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Jamie Carter is a Cardiff, U.K.-based freelance science journalist and a regular contributor to Live Science. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners and co-author of The Eclipse Effect, and leads international stargazing and eclipse-chasing tours. His work appears regularly in Space.com, Forbes, New Scientist, BBC Sky at Night, Sky & Telescope, and other major science and astronomy publications. He is also the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com.

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