A crescent of Earth hangs over the horizon of the moon, as the planet sets. The brown moon foreground is pocked with craters.

An Artemis II astronaut captured the crescent Earth setting behind the moon at 6:41pm Eastern Time on April 6, 2026, as the Orion spacecraft flew around the lunar far-side.

Just before temporarily losing contact with Earth on April 6, the Artemis II astronauts took this stunning photo of their home planet setting behind the moon.

The image is a deliberate echo of the 1968 “Earthrise” photo, taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders as he became one of the first people to enter lunar orbit. That photo was spontaneous; Anders was surprised by the sight of Earth appearing over the rugged moon and rushed to a window to snap pictures. The image became one of the most famous photos in history and is partially credited with starting the environmental movement.

In contrast, this “Earth set” picture was carefully planned. Earth appears as a crescent, with clouds swirling over Australia and Oceania on the sunlit sliver. The moon’s cratered surface has a brownish tint.

The astronauts talked a lot about unexpected colours on the moon during their seven-hour flyby. “The more I look at the moon, the browner and browner it looks,” one noted.

About an hour after this photo was taken, the astronauts re-emerged on the other side of the moon to begin their journey home.

“Ultimately, we will always choose Earth,” astronaut Christina Koch said. “We will always choose each other.”

The curve of the moon is on the left side of this image with a fingernail crescent of Earth seen at right.

Here is the Artemis II crew’s view of the Earth and moon together 36 minutes before Earth set.

The cratered curve of the moon is in the foreground with a blueish crescent of Earth in the background.

The moon and Earth edged closer six minutes before the moon covered Earth from Artemis II’s point of view.

A tiny fingernail sliver of Earth appears above the curvature of the moon.

As Earth set, the moon’s craters are etched in stark relief. The Artemis II astronauts were the first humans to see these features and more on the lunar far-side with their own eyes.

• A Tell Media report / By Lisa Grossman. Ms Grossman has a degree in astronomy from Cornell University and a graduate certificate in science writing from University of California, Santa Cruz.