Artemis II Mission Milestones: An Image and Video Recap

A view of Earth taken by an Artemis II astronaut from one of the Orion spacecraft’s windows after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026. The image features two auroras (top right and bottom left), and zodiacal light (bottom right) is visible as the Earth eclipses the Sun. Venus is shown on the bottom right of the image.

NASA

On April 1, 2026, Artemis II launched on a nearly 10-day voyage around the Moon, marking the first crewed flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, splashed down on April 10 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.

At their farthest point, the crew traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, setting a record for the greatest distance humans have traveled in space and observing the lunar surface like never before.

Under Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly complex missions to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefit, and to prepare for future human missions to Mars.

Relive exciting mission moments through the videos and images shared below.

Pre-Launch Preparation

Iceland Geology Training

A large scenic view of a mountain. In the bottom left, small silhouettes of people.

The Artemis II crew and backup crew members NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jenni Gibbons trek across the Icelandic landscape during their field geology training.

NASA/Robert Markowitz

To prepare for lunar exploration, the Artemis II crew trained in Iceland’s volcanic terrain.

They practiced navigation and field geology skills in challenging conditions while working as a team. The astronauts collected rock samples using tools like hammers, scoops, and chisels, and provided feedback to instructors to refine future Artemis training sites.

How To Dress For Space

Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) suit long-duration fit check with Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman.

NASA/Josh Valcarcel

NASA/Josh Valcarcel

The crew trained extensively in NASA’s Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS), the bright orange spacesuit worn inside the Orion spacecraft during launch and re-entry.

Each suit is custom-fitted and includes systems for air, water, food, and waste management. In emergencies, it can sustain life for up to six days.

The crew practiced suit operations in simulated weightlessness and pressurized environments to confirm performance for deep space travel.

Moon Talks

During the mission, the crew reflected on what the Moon means to them personally and professionally, sharing thoughts shaped by years of training and preparation.

Launch

NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen launched April 1, 2026, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA/Keegan Barber

Launch of NASA’s Artemis II: Moon Rocket Camera Views

Enjoy launch views from cameras affixed to the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. These cameras, developed by NASA, are called the Flight Imaging Launch Monitoring Real-time System (FILMRS). They survive some of the harshest environments of the avionics on the vehicle.

Mission to the Moon

Flight Day Highlights

Flight Day 3

View of a crescent Earth from the Orion spacecraft.

NASA

Flight Day 4

Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch is seen through a window of the Orion spacecraft while on her way to the Moon. This selfie-style photo was taken using a camera on the end of one of Orion’s solar array wings. Koch is holding “Rise”, the zero gravity indicator that launched with the crew after being selected from more than 2,600 original designs that were submitted from countries around the world. A zero gravity indicator is a small plush item that typically rides with a crew to visually indicate when they are in space. “Rise” was inspired by the iconic Earthrise moment from the Apollo 8 mission.

NASA

019A0170.NEF — Flight Day 5

A view of the nearside of the Moon, the side we always see from Earth. Some of the far side is visible, as well, on the left edge, just beyond the black patch that is Orientale basin, a nearly 600-mile-wide crater that straddles the Moon’s near and far sides and is partly visible from Earth. The dark areas in the center and right side of the disk are ancient lava flows, which are unique to the near side of the Moon. The white dot at the bottom of the disk, with white rays shooting out from it, is Tycho crater, one of the younger craters on the Moon at 108 million years old.

NASA

015B0524.NEF — Flight Day 6

Earth sets at 5:41 p.m. CDT, April 6, 2026, over the Moon’s curved limb in this photo captured by the Artemis II crew during their journey around the far side of the Moon. Orientale Basin is perched on the edge of the visible lunar surface. Hertzsprung Basin appears as two subtle concentric rings, which are interrupted by Vavilov, a younger crater superimposed over the older structure. The lines of indentations are secondary crater chains formed by ejecta from the massive impact that created Orientale. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region.

NASA

Earth setting behind the Moon’s horizon. Set against the blackness of space, the dark gray surface of the Moon arc across the image in the foreground. Beyond, a blue and white crescent Earth, oriented like a frown, fills the center of the image, with one tip disappearing beyond the lunar limb. — Flight Day 6

Echoing the iconic Earthrise photo captured by the Apollo 8 astronauts in 1968, during the lunar flyby, the Artemis II crew captured a shot of Earthset as they passed behind the Moon’s far side.

NASA

This image, taken from behind the Moon, shows its half-illuminated surface in sharp detail. To the right, a much smaller crescent Earth can be seen, with shades of blue and white just barely distinguishable. A faint reflection of the Orion spacecraft's window overlays the scene, especially in its right half. — Flight Day 6

Seen from behind the Moon during Artemis II, the Moon and Earth align in the same frame, each partially illuminated by the Sun. The Moon’s surface appears in sharp detail in the foreground, while Earth sits much farther away, smaller and softly lit in the background. A faint reflection in the spacecraft window is also visible, subtly overlaying the scene. Though their phases differ, both are shaped by the same sunlight, revealing the geometry of the Sun–Earth–Moon system from deep space.

NASA

Flight Day 6

The Moon, backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse, is photographed by NASA’s Orion spacecraft on April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II mission. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the Moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the Moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars.

NASA

Flight Day 6

Solar array wing-mounted cameras capture close-up images of NASA’s Orion spacecraft during a routine external inspection. At the time this photo was taken at 7:27 a.m. CDT, April 7, the crew was in a sleep period ahead of their seventh day into the mission.

NASA

The Milky Way galaxy appears as many points of light dotting the blackness of space. — Flight Day 7

A stunning snapshot in time. The Artemis II crew captured this breathtaking photo of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The Milky Way’s elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Spanning more than 100,000 light-years, Earth is located along one of the galaxy’s spiral arms, about halfway from the center.

NASA

017A7337.NEF — Flight Day 7

The Artemis II crew – (clockwise from left) Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover – pause for a group photo with their zero gravity indicator “Rise,” inside the Orion spacecraft on their way home.

NASA

Flight Day 10

On April 10, 2026, NASA’s Artemis II crew members are hoisted into a U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter after successfully splashing down in the Pacific Ocean following their nearly 10-day mission around the Moon.

NASA/James Blair

Return to Earth

How to Recover a Spacecraft

After splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, NASA and U.S. Navy teams recovered the Orion spacecraft and crew.

Recovery teams secured the capsule, opened the hatch, and assisted the astronauts out. The crew was then flown by helicopter to the Navy recovery ship, while Orion was brought aboard for transport back to shore.

More Mission Moments

NASA astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels toward the Moon.

NASA

View more photos in the Artemis II Return to Earth image gallery.

Go/No-Go: NASA’s Space Toilet Explained

The Universal Waste Management System, or space toilet, is a critical onboard system.

During the mission, the crew worked through operational issues to maintain performance in microgravity.

Space-to-Space Call: NASA’s Artemis II Astronauts and the International Space Station

Two screens at the front of Mission Control show three astronauts floating at the International Space Station (left) and four astronauts floating in the Orion spacecraft (right). Flight controllers watch from behind computer screens at their desks.

Members of the International Space Station Expedition 74 (left) and Artemis II (right) crews are seen at once on the screens inside the International Space Station flight control room in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA/Robert Markowitz

A historic first took place during the mission: a direct call between a deep space crew and astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Artemis II connected with Expedition 74 astronauts Chris Williams, Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, marking the first ship-to-ship communication of its kind.

Moments Around the Moon

The Artemis II crew 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.

NASA

Artemis II brought the crew to 252,756 miles from Earth at its farthest point and covered a total of 694,481 miles.

The lunar flyby set a new human distance record, surpassing Apollo 13’s 1970 record. The crew observed the Moon from closer range than any humans before them during a crewed mission.

Moon Joy, Courtesy of NASA’s Artemis II Astronauts

The Artemis II crew – (clockwise from left) Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover – pause for a group photo with their zero gravity indicator “Rise,” inside the Orion spacecraft on their way home.

NASA

With years of training and thousands of experts behind the mission, one unexpected outcome stood out: Moon joy.

It captured the emotional weight of seeing the Moon up close and the significance of returning humans to deep space.

Crew Comes Home

Watch the official NASA broadcast as the Artemis II crew splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA’s Orion capsule descends under its main parachutes over the Pacific Ocean following a successful Artemis II mission, April 10, 2026.

NASA/Josh Valcarcel

Crew Return to Houston

NASA’s Artemis II crew shared remarks with friends, family, and colleagues after they landed at Ellington Airport on Saturday, April 11, 2026.

NASA/Helen Arase Vargas

The Artemis II astronauts returned to Ellington Airport in Houston following their historic mission around the Moon.

Artemis II Crew News Conference

The crew shared reflections on their journey, the challenges of deep space flight, and what comes next for Artemis.

The Artemis II mission marks a major step forward in human exploration.

The mission demonstrated deep space crew operations, tested Orion systems with astronauts aboard, and set the stage for future lunar missions.

We are just getting started.

The Next Steps in Lunar Exploration

As the Artemis II crew flew over the terminator, the astronauts described this boundary between day and night as “anything but a straight line.” Crater rims along the terminator stand out as “islands” in the night. Giant chains of craters emanating from the 3.7-billion-year-old Orientale Basin can be seen scouring the surface, stretching almost to the terminator. This tells a geologic story: these crater chains produced by the Orientale impact event mar the surface of the relatively flat Hertzsprung Basin (center of this image), which means that Hertzsprung Basin must be even older than Orientale.

NASA

NASA is preparing for future missions to the Moon’s South Pole.

Work continues on next-generation spacesuits, lunar tools, and rovers at Johnson and its supporting training facilities. Listen as Apollo and Artemis astronauts, as well as subject matter experts, discuss the challenges of exploring the Moon in preparation for Mars

Future Artemis missions will face challenges including harsh lighting conditions, lunar dust, and extreme temperatures as NASA builds toward sustained exploration of the Moon and eventual human missions to Mars.

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Artemis II Mission Milestones: An Image and Video Recap