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Moon Joy June: Lunar Inspo

Moon Joy June artists! This is the second week of Moon Joy June, and the prompt is “Moon.” If you’re an artist looking for some inspiration, we have a treat for you: four new and previously unseen images from our Artemis II mission!

All four of these images were captured on April 6, 2026, during flight day 6 of the mission, when the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft conducted the lunar flyby of their ten-day journey. During the lunar flyby, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen captured photographs and collected scientific observations of the Moon in meticulous detail.

You can find more images from the lunar flyby here. If you’re feeling inspired to make some art dedicated to our celestial neighbor, you can share your creations on Tumblr with the #ArtemisArtShow hashtag!

todaysbird

the flightless cormorant, sometimes known as the galápagos cormorant, is a unique cormorant species endemic to the galapágos - they are found along the rocky coastlines of the isabela and fernandina islands. they are the only example of a cormorant that has lost the ability to fly through evolution. this evolution initially occurred due to the birds being found on an island free of predators - however, human introduction of cats, dogs, and pigs has made survival more challenging without flight. they are classified in genus nannopterum, alongside the neotropic cormorant & double crested cormorant. they are the largest living member of their family at 2.5–5.0 kg (5.5–11.0 lb), though their wings are approximately one-third of the size that would be necessary for a bird of this weight to take off. the sexes are similar in appearance, with blackish upperparts and a brown underside; however, males are larger and heavier than females. the flightless cormorant’s keel (an extension of the breastbone, where muscles needed for flight attach) is also significantly reduced compared to other cormorants. however, flightless cormorants are still adept hunters whose webbed feet and powerful legs help propel them underwater in pursuit of their prey. these birds feed near the sea floor, with their diet consisting of fish, octopi, and other small marine mammals. surprisingly, despite being birds who feed by diving underwater, the flightless cormorant shares a trait found across cormorants - their feathers are not waterproof. they spend time after each dive drying off in the sunlight in preparation for their next hunt. their hair-like, dense body feathers trap air, which prevents the birds from becoming waterlogged. the flightless cormorant is currently listed as ‘vulnerable’ by the IUCN due to their limited range and population size.

photos sourced from the Macaulay Library

herpsandbirds

Speckled Racer (Drymobius margaritiferus), family Colubridae, South TX, USA

photograph by Saopan Idris

herpsandbirds

Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis), “colts”, family Gruidae, order Gruiformes, Sarasota, FL, USA

Crane chicks are referred to as “colts”.

Sandhill Cranes breed in the far north of North America, and overwinter in the southern US and northern Mexico.

There are small separate southerly breeding populations in Mississippi, Florida, and Cuba.

photograph by Igor Marach

nasa

Welcome to the Far Side of the Moon

A crescent Earth sets behind the Moon.

On April 6, 2026, the Artemis II astronauts flew around the Moon, observing the far side – which we never see on Earth thanks to tidal locking – with their own eyes and with cameras.

See more of the Moon:

breathtakingdestinations

Spitzkoppe - Namibia (by NIR HIMI)

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Earthset

The Artemis II crew captured this view of an Earthset on April 6, 2026, as they flew around the Moon. The image is reminiscent of the iconic Earthrise image taken by astronaut Bill Anders 58 years earlier as the Apollo 8 crew flew around the Moon. The Apollo 8 mission was the first crewed spacecraft to circumnavigate the Moon.

For more imagery from the mission, visit our Artemis II Multimedia Page.

wonders-of-the-cosmos

NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows on Saturday, April 4, 2026, looking back at Earth, as the crew travel toward the Moon.

Credit: NASA

amnhnyc

Behold the pocket-sized western pygmy possum! (Cercartetus concinnus). One of the world’s smallest possums, this species typically weighs just 0.5 oz (14 g)—the size of an AA battery. This dainty marsupial is a nectarivore, meaning that its diet consists primarily of plant nectar. It inhabits treetops in forests throughout parts of Australia, using its long prehensile tail like a fifth limb as it moves from branch to branch.

Photo: Donna Belder, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist