On April 2, 2026, the crew looked out one of the Orion spacecraft’s four main cabin windows. They captured a sweeping view of Earth’s cloudy surface and the terminator — the stark dividing line between day and night across the globe. This image was released on Earth Day, April 22, 2026. Credit: NASA.

When Apollo 8 rounded the moon in 1968, Bill Anders lifted a camera and changed how we view our planet. His famous “Earthrise” photograph showed our fragile blue world hanging above a desolate, gray lunar landscape. It sparked a global environmental movement and helped launch the first Earth Day two years later.

Now, nearly six decades later, a new generation of explorers is doing it again.

To mark Earth Day on April 22, NASA unlocked the vault on previously unreleased imagery from the Artemis II mission. The previously unreleased photo showcases a crescent Earth as the Artemis crew was on their way to travel farther into deep space than any humans in history. It’s a riveting bridge between our Apollo era past and today’s modern era of spaceflight.

A New Perspective on Home

The new photo was shot on April 2, 2026, just a day into the Artemis mission’s 10-day voyage to the far side of the moon. It shows a stunning sweeping view of Earth’s cloudy surface and the terminator — the stark dividing line between day and night across the globe. Four days later, on April 6, Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen executed their historic hour-long lunar flyby.

During this pass, they snapped their own defining picture.

As they traveled behind the Moon, a crescent Earth hovered just above the cratered surface. Minutes later, our planet vanished from view. This Earthset moment stands as a poignant successor to Anders’ original photograph.

Left: Earthrise on Dec. 24, 1968, memorialized by the Apollo 8 crew in Kodak Ektachrome color film. Right: A crescent Earth hovers just above the lunar surface, minutes before Earthset. This photo was captured on April 6, by the Artemis II crewmembers through the windows of the Orion spacecraft shortly before they flew behind the Moon and journeyed farther from Earth than any other humans have traveled. Credit: NASA.

“On Earth Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary responsibility we share to understand our planet,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “NASA’s Earth science missions continue to deliver critical data that strengthen communities, support industries like agriculture, and help the nation anticipate and respond to wildfires, droughts, flooding, and other natural hazards. Together with our Earth science partners, NASA is committed to deepening our understanding of Earth.”

“Our four Artemis II astronauts — Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy — took humanity on a journey that showed us just how special and bright our Earth is, even from the dark side of the Moon, that is especially worth celebrating on Earth Day,” noted Nicky Fox, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

She continued: “Seeing the incredible images of our blue marble planet over time from Apollo 8’s Earthrise to Artemis II’s Earthset, it is not only a symbolic moment of beauty, but like the other images captured during the lunar flyby, Earthset is brimming with incredible science in high definition that will help inform our future Artemis missions on the Moon.”

Eclipses, iPhones, and Meteoroids

That’s not all. Just a few days earlier, on April 20, Commander Wiseman posted a stunning video of Earthset to Instagram. He did not shoot it with a multi-million-dollar space camera. He shot it with his personal iPhone 17 Pro Max. Wiseman noted the uncut video uses an 8x zoom, closely matching what the human eye actually sees. In the footage, Earth slowly dips behind the moon, like a sunset over the Pacific Ocean.

The Artemis II crew flew 4,111 miles farther from Earth than the Apollo 13 mission did in 1970. This officially set a new distance record for human spaceflight.

They also put that vantage point to work. During the flyby, the crew photographed the Moon’s rugged far side. They documented ancient lava flows, surface cracks, and ridges to better understand lunar evolution.

The crew even watched a solar eclipse from lunar orbit. They protected their eyes using the exact same paper eclipse glasses NASA produced for the 2023 and 2024 eclipses on Earth.

On Earth, a total solar eclipse is a fleeting, three-minute coincidence of cosmic geometry. From the cockpit of Orion on April 6, 2026, it was a nearly hour-long experience of orbital mechanics. As the Moon’s massive bulk slid in front of the Sun, the crew was treated to 54 minutes of deep-space totality. This shot captures the Sun’s corona bleeding out into the darkness, a shimmering atmospheric halo that usually requires specialized telescopes to see. But look closer: you can see actual stars puncturing the blackness, and on the left, a faint, ghostly Earthlight reflecting off the lunar crust. It’s surreal. Image: NASA The Artemis II crew — Mission Specialist Christina Koch (top left), Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (bottom left), Commander Reid Wiseman (bottom right), and Pilot Victor Glover (top right) — uses eclipse viewers, identical to what NASA produced for the 2023 annular eclipse and 2024 total solar eclipse, to protect their eyes at key moments during the solar eclipse they experienced during their lunar flyby. This was the first use of eclipse glasses at the Moon to safely view a solar eclipse. Credit: NASA.

During the hour-long event, the crew studied the sun’s glowing outermost atmosphere, known as the corona. They also scanned the lunar edge for flashes of light caused by meteoroid strikes. They actually witnessed six meteorites slam into the moon. Understanding the frequency and impact of these strikes gives NASA vital hazard data before we place vulnerable habitats and human boots on the surface.

Looking Toward Artemis III

Behind the breathtaking photos and record-breaking distances, the astronauts lived the gritty reality of deep space travel.

Over the course of their nearly 700,000-mile journey, the crew worked through relatable toilet troubleshooting. They spiced up their freeze-dried meals by eating a lot of hot sauce. They endured the tight quarters of the Orion capsule before officially splashing down at 8:07 p.m. EDT on April 10, 2026.

Their safe return closes the book on Artemis II, but the data they gathered kicks the door wide open for the next step.

NASA currently schedules the Artemis III mission for launch in 2027. That crew will ride an Orion spacecraft atop the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. They will test the critical rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and a commercial spacecraft.

Those capabilities are the final puzzle pieces required to actually land humans back on the lunar surface with Artemis IV, allegedly scheduled for early 2028.

We now have the photos. Soon, we will have the footprints.

Next, check out our hand-picked gallery of the best photos from the Artemis II mission.