The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, make a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The Astronauts of Artemis II have captured the brilliant beauty of our blue planet as ever zoomed in closer to the moon.
NASA released the first images of the tethered crew on Friday, 1 1/2 days after astronaut’s first moon shot in more than half a century.
The first photo taken by Commander Reid Wiseman shows a curved part of the Earth in one of the capsule’s windows. The second shows the entire globe with the oceans superimposed by white streaks of clouds. A green aurora even shines, according to NASA.
As of noon Friday, Wiseman and his crew were 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) from Earth and quickly gaining on the Moon with another 160,000 miles (258,000 kilometers) to go. They should reach their destination on Monday.
The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, make a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping. They fired Orion’s main engine on Thursday night which set them on their way.
After Mission Control repositioned their capsule, the entire Earth complete with northern lights filled their windows.
“It was the most spectacular moment and it stopped all four of us in our tracks,” Wiseman said in a television interview.
They are the first lunar travelers since Apollo 17 in 1972.
By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Department of Science Education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.
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