Artemis II astronauts release first close‑up lunar photos

Historic far‑side views

On April 6, 2026 the Orion crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—spent seven hours circling the Moon’s far side. During that pass they captured the first human‑taken close‑up images of terrain never before seen from orbit.

Solar eclipse and “Earthset”

Among the shots is a rare in‑space solar eclipse, where the Moon blotted out the Sun, and a striking “Earthset” picture showing Earth dipping behind the lunar horizon while a crescent of daylight lit the far side.

Downlink limits mean more to come

NASA says the bulk of the thousands of frames will be downlinked only after the crew returns to Earth, because bandwidth during the flyby was limited. The agency plans a public release of the full image set later this month.

Scientific value

Scientists will comb the photos for clues about lunar geology, surface composition and the history of impacts, data that will inform the upcoming Artemis III landing mission.

Looking ahead

The images underscore the progress of NASA’s Artemis program and promise a new era of detailed lunar observation as humanity prepares to return permanently to the Moon.