A high-quality, ‘stunning’ photograph of Earth taken halfway to the Moon by the Artemis 2 astronauts has been released by NASA. After reaching the path toward Earth’s closest celestial neighbor, the space mission’s commander, Reid Wiseman, captured the photo, according to NASA. At approximately 11:45 AM Nepal time on Saturday, NASA’s dashboard showed the Orion spacecraft had traveled 228,500 kilometers from Earth and was around 212,400 kilometers from the Moon.
Astronaut Christina Koch shared that they had reached the halfway point after 2 days, 5 hours, and 24 minutes of travel from Earth, and everyone onboard expressed joy upon receiving the news.
The first image, titled “Hello, World,” prominently features the vast blue region of the Indian Ocean. The photo shows Earth’s atmosphere glowing brightly as it blocks the Sun’s rays, with green auroras visible near the poles. The Earth appears upside down in the image, with Western Sahara and the Iberian Peninsula on the left and the eastern part of South America on the right. A bright planet visible near the bottom right was identified by NASA as Mercury. These photos were captured shortly after the crew successfully completed the Trans-Lunar Injection burn on Friday.
This maneuver propelled the Orion spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit, carrying the four astronauts toward the Moon. Artemis 2 will take the crew to the Moon’s far side and back, marking the first time in 50 years—since 1972—that humans will travel beyond Earth’s orbit. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the spacecraft will fly by the Moon’s far side on April 6 and splash down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10.
