Four humans have just flown around the Moon for the first time in over five decades, capturing a world that has remained largely hidden from human eyes.
Armed with high-resolution cameras and eclipse glasses, the Artemis 2 crew documented the lunar surface in unprecedented detail.
The Artemis 2 astronauts witnessed a breathtaking Earthrise at approximately 7:10 p.m. IST on Tuesday, April 7, when Earth emerged from behind the lunar limb following a 40-minute communications blackout.
This silent reappearance of home was a highlight of the historic mission where four humans flew around the Moon for the first time in over five decades.
These photographs are not just beautiful; they provide a fresh look at the rugged landscape of the lunar far side and the moment Earth reappeared from the darkness.
WHAT DID THE ARTEMIS 2 CREW PHOTOGRAPH ON THE MOON?
During a seven-hour observation window on April 7, the crew captured images of both the near side and the far side of the Moon.
Because of tidal locking, a process where the Moon’s rotation matches its orbit around Earth so perfectly that one side always faces away from us, we never see the far side from our planet.
One striking image shows the lunar terminator, which is the sharp dividing line between the sunlit day side and the dark night side.
At this boundary, the low angle of sunlight creates long shadows that make craters like Birkhoff and Stebbins appear in 3D.
WHAT IS THE ORIENTALE BASIN?
The crew also captured the Orientale basin, a massive impact crater about 965 kilometres wide.
This basin was formed billions of years ago when a giant space rock smashed into the Moon, creating ripples in the lunar crust that look like mountains.
At the edge of this basin, the crew spotted two smaller craters.
They have proposed naming these craters Integrity, after the spacecraft, and Carroll, in honour of the late wife of Commander Reid Wiseman.
HOW DID THE CREW SEE THE SOLAR ECLIPSE?
As the spacecraft moved behind the Moon, the Sun disappeared for nearly an hour, creating a total solar eclipse.
The crew used special eclipse glasses to safely study the solar corona, which is the Sun’s wispy outermost atmosphere.
The sight of Earth hanging in the black void of space remains one of the most iconic moments of the mission.
