NASA has unveiled a captivating collection of photographs taken by the Artemis II crew as they journey toward the moon. Among these images is a modern rendition of the iconic “Blue Marble” photo, originally captured by the Apollo 17 crew over five decades ago.
In a series of posts on platform X, NASA remarked, “We’ve advanced so much in the past 54 years, yet one thing remains constant: Our planet looks stunning from space!” The post featured a striking comparison between the latest image of Earth and its 1972 predecessor.
The new photo predominantly showcases the vast blue expanse of the ocean, with the landmass of northern Africa, including the Strait of Gibraltar and portions of Southern Spain and Portugal, visible on the globe’s left side.
Additional images released by NASA depict astronauts Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman gazing at Earth through a spacecraft window, capturing a moment of reflection as they embark on their deep-space journey toward the moon.
In another post, NASA commented, “This view just hits different.” The sentiment accompanied images of Koch and Wiseman taking a moment to look back at Earth from their vantage point in space.
A third image, shared by NASA, presents a dramatic scene of Earth shrouded mostly in darkness, with a radiant sliver of light tracing the planet’s bottom right, highlighting Earth’s ethereal beauty.
“Even in darkness, we glow,” the agency wrote.
“In this image of Earth taken by the Artemis II crew, we can see the electric lights of human activity. In the lower right, sunlight illuminates the limb of the planet,” the X post explained.
A clearly awestruck Wiseman shared the photo on his own X account with the caption “There are no words.”
Camera technology has evolved considerably since the image of Earth taken from Apollo 17 on Dec. 7, 1972 by astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, who used a 70mm Hasselblad camera for the famous photo.
This time around, NASA said, the crew used an iPhone 17 Pro Max for some of the shots.
Over the next few days, the first manned space mission since 1972 will reach the moon, some 250,000 miles from Earth, before hitching a ride on the its gravity for a non-stop return flight back home, achieving a first-ever figure-eight flight pattern.
The mission will see humans propelled further into space than ever before, and although the Orion spacecraft will not make a lunar landing, the mission is laying the groundwork for a return to the moon by astronauts in 2028.
Artemis II is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Friday, April 10.
