Artemis II Astronauts Capture Historic Moon and Earth Images During Record-Breaking Mission

NASA's Artemis II mission is producing extraordinary photographic documentation as astronauts travel further from Earth than any humans in history. On April 6, the Orion spacecraft entered the Moon's sphere of influence, captured in an image showing the lunar surface through a port window. Mission specialists Christina Koch and Commander Reid Wiseman have been photographed gazing at Earth through the spacecraft's windows, with NASA confirming these intimate portraits were shot using an iPhone 17 Pro Max—a recent allowance for personal devices in space. The crew has shifted focus toward lunar photography as they approach Earth's natural satellite, capturing detailed views of the Moon's nearside that reveal geological features including the 600-mile-wide Orientale basin and the 108-million-year-old Tycho crater. Their earlier viral images of Earth continue alongside new perspectives, including a sliver of the planet illuminated against space's darkness. NASA is streaming live coverage of today's record-breaking lunar flyby.