It’s been more than 50 years since NASA astronaut Harrison Schmitt took the famous Big Blue Marble photograph, showing a breathtaking vision of Earth taken aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the moon. Now, as the four-astronaut crew of the Artemis II mission heads toward the moon, more spectacular images are being released.
This stunning photo is perhaps the most reminiscent of the Big Blue Marble, showing Earth in all its fragile, lovely glory.
“That’s us!” NASA wrote in a post. The post also quoted astronaut Christina Koch as saying of Earth, “You guys look great.”
In a reply to questions on the post, NASA wrote, “Two auroras (top right and bottom left) are visible in this image. Zodiacal light (bottom right), is also visible, as well as airglow from Earth’s atmosphere.”
Another neat photo from the Artemis mission shows the planet neatly bisected, with one side lit up by the sun and the other in darkness.
This image of the Earth was taken by one of the Artemis II crew out the Orion’s window.
“You look amazing, you look beautiful,” Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, said of the views of Earth in a video call with ABC News.
A view of the Earth from NASA’s Orion spacecraft as it orbits above the planet during the Artemis II test flight.
Another intriguing image shows part of the spacecraft itself. USA Today noted that “the image appears to show the bottom of Orion’s service module where its main engine and auxiliary thrusters are housed.”
We’re tracking the 10-day Artemis II mission with a regularly updated blog.
Keep an eye on NASA’s image repository to see the latest photos.