The first-ever ‘Earth-set’ marks another Artemis II milestone that mirrors ‘Earth-rise’ of 1968
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...
How NASA’s Artemis II crew captured earth-rise and earth-set similar to sunrise and sunset during Moon flyby
During the lunar flyby, the crew documented impact craters, ancient lava flows and surface fractures that will help scientists study the Moon’s geologic evolution. They monitored colour, brightness and texture differences across the terrain, observed an earth-set and earth-rise and captured solar‑eclipse views of the Sun’s corona.
What astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission saw when they flew around the far side of Moon
Orion launched into space from Florida on 1 April, and after orbiting Earth to check out the spacecraft’s systems, the astronauts on-board ignited its engines and set course for the Moon the next day.
Artemis II crew surpasses 400,171km Apollo 13 distance record to reach the blind side of Moon
According to Eyewitness online newspaper, “A total solar eclipse greeted the three Americans and one Canadian as the moon temporarily blocked the sun from their perspective. Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn nodded at them from the black void. The landing sites of Apollo 12 and 14 also were visible, poignant reminders of NASA’s first age of exploration more than half a century ago.”
NASA’s Artemis II: Understanding America’s first crewed flight around the Moon since Apollo in 1972
All roads to the cosmos naturally lead through the Moon, making it ideal for NASA to test new technologies and figure out how to sustain human life far from Earth, thereby preparing for future missions to Mars and beyond, Swope wrote in a commentary on the think tank’s website.
