Capturing the Details of the Moon and the Beauty of Earth

art002e021110 (April 6, 2026) – As the Artemis II crew came close to passing behind the Moon and experiencing a planned loss of signal, they captured this image of a crescent Earth. Seen from afar, it almost looks like a circular arc – except when backlit, as in other images captured by the Artemis II crew. Earth is in a crescent phase, with sunlight coming from the right. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over muted blue in the Australia and Oceania region. Credit: NASA