Artemis II Astronauts Make Historic Journey: Captivating Photos from Orion Reveal Moon’s Majestic Beauty

The team of four astronauts on this historic mission is now nearly halfway to the Moon, having launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.

“Since yesterday’s trans-lunar injection burn propelled the crew toward the Moon, the mission has been progressing smoothly overall, and the crew remains in excellent spirits,” stated Lakiesha Hawkins, the acting deputy associate administrator for NASA’s exploration systems, during a Friday news conference.

Hawkins also noted, “At present, the crew is more than 100,000 miles away from Earth, with approximately 150,000 miles remaining to reach the Moon.”

“We often refer to extraordinary human achievements as ‘moonshots’ for a reason,” she continued. “Indeed, this mission represents both literally and symbolically our moonshot, and we are right in the midst of it.”

A photo of Earth taken by NASA’s Artemis II astronaut Cmdr. Reid Wiseman inside the Orion capsule on Friday.  (NASA via AP)

Hawkins also shared two photos taken by astronaut Cmdr. Reid Wiseman from the Orion spacecraft.

The first image, Hawkins said, shows a “backlit Earth revealing auroras as the crew heads toward the moon.”

She said it was taken by astronaut Wiseman out of a window on the Orion spacecraft, and it features two auroras and zodiacal light “at the bottom right. It’s visible as the Earth eclipses to sun.”

“It’s great to think — with the exception of our four friends — all of us are represented in this image,” Hawkins said.

This image provided by NASA shows a view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from the spacecraft’s window after completing the translunar injection burn. (NASA via AP)

A second photo taken by Wiseman after the trans-lunar injection burn, which propels a spacecraft out of the Earth’s orbit, on Thursday shows the terminator line, separating day from night on Earth.

“So, we continue to learn about our spacecraft as we operate it in deep space with crew for the first time and it’s important to remind ourselves of that as we learn a little bit more day-by-day,” Hawkins said.

Artemis II Ascent Flight Director Judd Frieling said after the translunar injection burn on Thursday that the crew did an inspection of their windows, had planned medical conferences, and while they were asleep, the ground crew checked to see how the spacecraft was functioning.

And after the astronauts woke up Friday morning, they were able to talk to their families.

“We had planned a trajectory correction burn,” Frieling said. “The systems are doing so well now — navigation and propulsion systems together — that that was not needed. So, we’ll roll that into the next planned correction trajectory burn tomorrow.”

This image from video provided by NASA shows the Artemis II crew: Canadian astronaut and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, left, Commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch and pilot Victor Glover. (NASA via AP)

Howard Hu, Orion’s program manager, said that the subsystems on the spacecraft continue to perform well, the air revitalization system is “doing very well” and the propellant usage was within 5% of their predicated usage limits.

He said they are working through one pressurization issue that relates to helium that pressurizes propellant tanks that push out the oxidizer and the fuel to make some of the major burns.

Hu said one branch had to be isolated, but it’s redundant and has no impact on the mission.

“We’re able to do the rest of the burns across the mission without doing any regulation, what we call blowdown mode,” he said. “In other words, there’s enough helium pressure in the tanks in the oxidizer itself that we can push out the fuel without needing to regulate or require more helium from the helium tanks.”

NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B, Wednesday, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Chris O’Meara/AP)

Hu also showed a photo of part of the Earth seen through a window on the spacecraft, which he said was also taken by Wiseman.

“It just brings a lot of great emotion to me to see that picture being taken,” Hu said.

Hu showed another photo of the crew, joking that Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen looked like he wasn’t “working that hard, so I’m going to have to check to make sure if he’s doing anything more than lying there on the side here, but great to see the crew. Great to see their smiling faces and hear them talk about their experiences so far.”

Also on board the Orion capsule for the 10-day mission to fly around the moon is NASA Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist Christina Koch.

<!–>