Astronauts participating in NASA’s “Artemis 2” mission published a group of wonderful photos of planet Earth. These images were taken as they were heading towards the Moon, the first manned flight into its orbit in more than five decades.
These shots, taken about thirty-six hours into the mission, show stunning views of Earth appearing with a distinct curvature through the window of the Orion spacecraft. The Earth is surrounded by moving white clouds, in addition to the northern lights glowing in bright green colors.
Mission Commander Reed Wiseman took these images after completing a critical engine burn, propelling the spacecraft on its intended path toward the Moon. The crew was about 100,000 miles away from Earth at the time, and they were still rapidly moving away.
One image shows two bright auroras on either side of the planet, as well as faint zodiacal light. While in another shot, the Earth appears as if it is suspended in the darkness of space from an unfamiliar angle, with West Africa appearing on one side of the scene.
Weizman described this moment as “the most beautiful during the trip,” stressing that the entire crew paused for a moment in front of this majestic view.
The mission crew consists of American astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The spacecraft launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 1, on a mission scheduled to take about ten days.
The mission involves orbiting the moon before returning to Earth, flying close to its far side and taking images of terrain rarely seen by humans. The flight is expected to end with a landing in the Pacific Ocean. (Erm News)
