Earthset From the Lunar Far Side

NASA’s Artemis II mission will conclude its 10-day journey around the Moon on April 10, 2026, when the crew splashes down off the California coast. While additional imagery will continue to be processed after their return, the astronauts have already delivered a remarkable collection of photos. Among them is a shot of Earthset, echoing the iconic Earthrise photos taken by Apollo 8 astronauts in 1968.

During an Earthset, the planet appears to sink below the lunar horizon. In this scene, a partially lit crescent Earth drops behind the Moon as seen by crew on the Orion spacecraft. The Earth’s sunlit side shows white clouds and blue water over the Oceania region, while the dark areas are experiencing nighttime. The image also shows incredible detail of the Moon’s surface and its overlapping craters and basins.

The image was taken at 6:41 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on April 6, 2026, as the Artemis II astronauts passed behind the Moon’s far side. It is one of many photos taken during the seven-hour flyby, including images of a total solar eclipse, the light from several planetary neighbors, and the long shadows cast along the terminator line where lunar day meets night.

More images from the historic flyby can be viewed in the Artemis II lunar flyby gallery, and other mission photos and resources are available on the mission’s multimedia page. Past views of Earth from afar can be found in this collection from NASA Earth Observatory.

Image by NASA. Text by Kathryn Hansen, adapted from NASA resources.

Downloads

April 6, 2026

JPEG (1.13 MB)

References & Resources

• NASA (2026, April 7) Artemis II Lunar Flyby. Accessed April 9, 2026.
• NASA (2026, April 4) NASA Answers Your Most Pressing Artemis II Questions. Accessed April 9, 2026.
• NASA (2026, April) Artemis II Multimedia. Accessed April 9, 2026.
• NASA (2026) Artemis II. Accessed April 9, 2026.

You may also be interested in:

Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.

Shades of a Lunar Eclipse

3 min read

A series of nighttime satellite images revealed how moonlight reaching Earth varied throughout a total lunar eclipse.

Article

City Lights Glow Along Moonlit Waters

3 min read

An astronaut photographed moonglint shimmering across the sea surface and the bright clusters of Florida’s cities at night.

Article

The Galaxy Next Door

3 min read

The Large Magellanic Cloud—one of our closest neighboring galaxies—is a hotbed of star formation that is visible to both astronauts…

Article

Keep Exploring

Discover More from NASA Earth Science

Subscribe to Earth Observatory Newsletters

Subscribe to the Earth Observatory and get the Earth in your inbox.

Earth Observatory Image of the Day

NASA’s Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day, with in-depth stories and stunning imagery.

Explore Earth Science

Earth Science Data

Open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Indoor Testing Facilities available at the NASA Unmanned Autonomy Research Complex (NUARC)

WindShaper

A large WindShaper fan array is available for dynamic low-speed and hovering flight research.  The WindShaper is ideal for generating arbitrary wind gradients and wind gusts via a simple Python API.  A companion WindProbe is also available for quick surveys of flows.  The WindProbe utilizes the lab’s OptiTrack motion capture system to extract the position and orientation of the 5-hole cone probe located on the probe tip.

•Large dynamic fan array: 9’x7’, 1134 fans arranged as 567 ‘wind pixels’

•Wind speeds: 0 to 16 m/s (0 to 36 mph/31 kts)

•Acceleration: 4 m/s², Deceleration: 2.5 m/s²

•Each fan is programmable via Python scripting

•Replicates steady winds, gusts, and wind gradients

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Suzanne Cisneros

Starstruck

The Artemis II crew captured this photo of our galaxy, the Milky Way, on April 7, 2026. 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.

See more photos from the mission.
Image credit: NASA

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Monika Luabeya

Watching the Artemis II Mission Unfold at JPL’s Space Flight Operations Facility

1 Min Read

Watching the Artemis II Mission Unfold at JPL’s Space Flight Operations Facility

Downloads

Watching the Artemis II Mission Unfold at JPL’s Space Flight Operations Facility

JPEG (66.13 MB)

Description

Staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California watch the agency’s Artemis II mission unfold soon after launch on April 1, 2026, at the Space Flight Operations Facility, which operates the Deep Space Network (DSN).

The DSN comprises of three complexes in Goldstone, California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. Each complex has several radio frequency antennas that communicate with dozens of spacecraft exploring the solar system in addition to the crewed Artemis II mission.

The DSN is managed by JPL for the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. JPL is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, for NASA.

For more information about Artemis II, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From Photojournal

Photojournal

Search Photojournal

Photojournal’s Latest Content

Feedback

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

The Deep Space Network Acquires Artemis II Signal

2 Min Read

The Deep Space Network Acquires Artemis II Signal

Downloads

The Deep Space Network Acquires Artemis II Signal

JPEG (62.03 MB)

Description

A graphical representation of the Deep Space Network’s radio frequency antennas indicate signal acquisition from NASA’s Artemis II mission to the Moon on April 1, 2026, inside the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Two antennas at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, Deep Space Station 54 and 56, can be seen communicating with Artemis II (the signals are labelled “EM2”, short for “Exploration Mission 2”; elsewhere they are labelled “ART2” for “Artemis II”).

A similar visualization can be found at DSN Now, which details all the missions that the network is communicating with 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Space Flight Operations Facility operates the DSN, which comprises of three complexes in Goldstone, California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. Each complex consists of several radio frequency antennas that communicate with dozens of spacecraft exploring the solar system in addition to the Artemis II mission. 

The DSN is managed by JPL for the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. JPL is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, for NASA.

For more information about Artemis II, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From Photojournal

Photojournal

Search Photojournal

Photojournal’s Latest Content

Feedback

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…