Ancient Lava on the Moon

art002e012028 (April 6, 2026) - The Artemis II crew captured a close-up snapshot of the near side of the Moon as NASA’s Orion spacecraft approached for the lunar flyby. The near side, characterized by the dark patches of ancient lava, is visible on the top third of the lunar disk. Aristarchus crater is the bright white dot in the midst of a dark grey lava flow at the top of the image. Credit: NASA