It has been greater than 50 years since NASA astronaut Harrison Schmitt took the well-known Big Blue Marble photograph, displaying a panoramic imaginative and prescient of Earth taken aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its strategy to the moon. Now, because the four-astronaut crew of the Artemis II mission heads towards the moon, extra spectacular photos are being launched.
This gorgeous picture is maybe essentially the most harking back to the Large Blue Marble, displaying Earth in all its fragile, pretty glory.
“That is us!” NASA wrote in a post. The publish additionally quoted astronaut Christina Koch as saying of Earth, “You guys look nice.”
In a reply to questions on the publish, NASA wrote, “Two auroras (prime proper and backside left) are seen on this picture. Zodiacal gentle (backside proper), can be seen, in addition to airglow from Earth’s ambiance.”
One other neat picture from the Artemis mission exhibits the planet neatly bisected, with one facet lit up by the solar and the opposite in darkness.
This picture of the Earth was taken by one of many Artemis II crew out the Orion’s window.
“You look wonderful, you look stunning,” Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, mentioned of the views of Earth in a video call with ABC News.
A view of the Earth from NASA’s Orion spacecraft because it orbits above the planet throughout the Artemis II check flight.
One other intriguing picture exhibits a part of the spacecraft itself. USA Today noted that “the picture seems to indicate the underside of Orion’s service module the place its fundamental engine and auxiliary thrusters are housed.”
We’re monitoring the 10-day Artemis II mission with a regularly updated blog.
Control NASA’s image repository to see the most recent photographs.

