#earthrise

[nasa]

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.

[imminentchaos]

The Artemis II mission is making me feel things

[aspaceinthecosmos]

lunar flyby photos just dropped! here’s my favorites!

you can see all the mission photos, plus nasa’s explanations of them on their website!

[lonestarflight]

Earth as seen from Apollo 8 and Artemis II.

NASA ID: AS08-14-2383, art002e009285

[c-schroed]

There surely is a lot to say about the marvels of the new Artemis II moon mission, but currently all my simple little mind can think of is that footage of Mission Specialist Christina Koch playing with that adorable moon plushie wearing that gorgeously stupid lil earth hat:

Which is when I learned about the wonderful world of Zero Gravity Indicators:

Congrats to making it to space, Rise the Moon Plushie that's inspired by the famous Earthrise Apollo 8 pic. THIS IS SO LOVELY I COULD CRY!!!111!!1!

[ateazure]

an ethereal beauty with the earth as her crown

+ bonus :)

[godwantsit]

[sepdet]

RiSE! Zero Gravity Indicator

Hat tip to eight-year-old Lucas Ye for seeing the famous "Earthrise" photo by Apollo 8, the first mission to circle the Moon as a test flight in 1968, and thinking, "hat," in possibly the greatest leap of pareidolia ever.

This video shows Paula Cain, who adapted Lucas' design into a fire-safe plushie:

ZIGs have been present on missions going all the way back to Apollo — they help strapped-in and suited-up astronauts know when they're truly weightless.

(Also, I suspect it's a way to head off some of the tinfoil hatters claiming the ghost of Stanley Kubrick is filming them on a sound stage in Burbank.)

Did you know? The "Earthrise" photo most of us thought of before Artemis II gave us new ones is actually several photos!

On December 24, 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders were coming around from the far side of the Moon on their fourth orbit. Borman began to roll the spacecraft, and as he did, the Earth rose into view over the Moon’s limb. Anders, photographing the Moon from the right side window, caught sight of the view, and exclaimed: “Oh my God, look at that picture over there! There’s the Earth comin’ up. Wow, is that pretty!”

He snapped a black and white photo (top), capturing humanity’s first view of Earth from another planetary body. A few minutes later, Anders put color film in the camera and took the iconic color photographs of a half Earth hanging over the lunar horizon.

(Reminder: sunlight shining on the Moon's surface means it's too bright to see stars — it's like trying to see a candle 50 feet away with those too-bright headlights shining in your face).

So what's that framed photo behind Rise? And why do we all remember the horizon-hugging Earth in color?

Over the years, some reproductions have taken the liberty of moving the Earth in the color version closer to the horizon, since we know it had been there, while others borrow the colors from the color film to colorize the b&w.

And in 2013, for the 45th anniversary of Apollo 8, NASA Goddard Space Center used Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter high-res scans of the Moon plus TERRA satellite data of Earth to improve the resolution and recreate this photo in color:

More importantly, they recreated what the Apollo astronauts saw as a movie.

Here's the "Earthrise revisited" explainer with the recording of Anders and Lovell's mad scramble to change the film before it's too late!

I think the framed photo behind "Rise!" may be a still from this animation in which the gap between Earth and the horizon is the right size to make a good brim for the Earth as a hat. 😁