Artemis II's moonbound astronauts capture Earth's brilliant blue beauty as they leave it behind

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Artemis II astronauts person captured our bluish planet's superb quality arsenic they zoom ever person to the moon.

This representation provided by NASA shows a presumption of Earth from of the Orion spacecraft's model aft completing the translunar injection pain connected April 2, 2026.

NASA via AP

NASA released the crew's archetypal downlinked images Friday, 1 1/2 days into the archetypal astronaut moonshot successful much than fractional a century.

The archetypal photograph taken by commandant Reid Wiseman shows a curved portion of Earth successful 1 of the capsule's windows. The 2nd shows the full globe with the oceans topped by swirling achromatic tendrils of clouds. A greenish aurora adjacent glows, according to NASA.

This representation provided by NASA shows a downlink representation of Earth taken by NASA's Artemis II astronaut commandant Reid Wiseman wrong the Orion capsule connected Friday, April 3, 2026.

NASA via AP

As of midmorning Friday, Wiseman and his unit were 100,000 miles from Earth and were rapidly gaining connected the satellite with different 160,000 miles (258,000 kilometers) to go. They should scope their destination connected Monday.

The 3 Americans and 1 Canadian volition plaything astir the satellite successful their Orion capsule, bent a U-turn and past caput consecutive backmost location without stopping. They fired Orion's main motor Thursday nighttime that acceptable them connected their course.

This representation taken from video provided by NASA shows the Artemis II unit arsenic they look connected a video league from the moon's orbit Thursday, April 2, 2026.

NASA via AP

After Mission Control shifted the presumption of their capsule, the full Earth implicit with bluish lights filled their windows.

"It was the astir spectacular moment, and it paused each 4 of america successful our tracks," Wiseman said successful a TV interview.

They're the archetypal lunar travelers since Apollo 17 successful 1972.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives enactment from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely liable for each content.