{"id":399899,"date":"2026-04-15T15:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/399899\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:06:10","slug":"nasas-photography-trainers-say-artemis-ii-astronauts-exceeded-their-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/399899\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s Photography Trainers Say Artemis II Astronauts Exceeded Their Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Left:Artemis II Astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover practice photography under the tutelage of Paul Reichert. | NASA <\/p>\n

There\u2019s little doubt that the Artemis II astronauts took some astounding photos on their historic trip to the Moon, but even their photography instructors back on Earth were taken aback by just how well they did. <\/p>\n

NASA photography and video trainers, Paul Reichert and Katrina Willoughby, tell Reuters<\/a> that all astronauts undergo \u201cfour to six hours\u201d of camera training upon joining the programme, but once they have a space assignment, they will complete 10 photography classes, which amounts to about 20 hours training. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost people can use a camera and get a photo that is good enough, but good enough isn\u2019t what we\u2019re after scientifically. We\u2019re really teaching the astronauts how to go beyond the basics,\u201d Willoughby tells the Rochester Institute of Technology<\/a> (RIT). \u201cBeing able to understand how to use the equipment and what the options are gives us a lot more capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Reichert and Willoughby both trained the Artemis II crew, which included building a mock-up of the Orion capsule and a giant inflatable Moon suspended in the dark. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor training, we\u2019ll give them a problem or request for a certain kind of photo, and then we let them work through how they\u2019re going to accomplish the task,\u201d Reichert tells RIT. \u201cIn the end, when they\u2019re on their space mission, we can\u2019t be there with them, so they need to feel confident that they can figure some of this stuff out on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reichert notes that most astronauts have very little experience in photography, so the training before they fly is crucial. It\u2019s not just about getting stunning photos either \u2014 the cameras are crucial to the overall operation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf something breaks, for example, we need a picture or video to show us on the ground what\u2019s going on. Sometimes, the imagery is what is needed to move forward, so it is important that the crew can get it right the first time,\u201d says Willoughby. <\/p>\n

\"AThe heavily cratered terrain of the eastern edge of the South Pole-Aitken basin. The Cameras on Artemis II <\/p>\n

Much was made about the choice of camera for the mission: a 10-year-old Nikon D5 DSLR. Reichert tells Reuters that the workhorse camera is spaceflight-proven. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of flight experience with it,\u201d Reichert says. \u201cWe knew it could handle radiation, at least several years of radiation dosage on the ISS, and it didn\u2019t have any problems with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThreeReichert, left, puts Koch and Glover through their paces. | NASA\/James Blair<\/p>\n

As PetaPixel explains<\/a>, the Nikon D5 also has incredible low-light performance and remains the best high ISO performer in all Nikon digital cameras, including mirrorless. This makes it ideal for capturing photos of the Earth<\/a> \u2014 even the side that\u2019s in shadow. <\/p>\n

The other notable camera onboard was the iPhone 17 Pro Max,<\/a> a late addition. But both the Nikon and the iPhone shared a similar challenge: transmitting the data.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing we do have to think about on board is, \u2018What does it take to get files down?’\u201d Willoughby tells Reuters. \u201cAnd unfortunately, we don\u2019t have bandwidth. And that\u2019s something a lot of people down here [on Earth] are really used to instantly having.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AiPhone selfie. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the crew did manage to send the photos back to Earth before their successful splashdown<\/a> <\/p>\n

Image credits: NASA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artemis II Astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover practice photography under the tutelage of Paul Reichert. | NASA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[34435,2305,129010,129011,307,304,305,306,14819,308,93,61,60,91,3683],"class_list":{"0":"post-399899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-spacephotography","9":"tag-artemis","10":"tag-artemis2","11":"tag-artemisii","12":"tag-arts","13":"tag-arts-and-design","14":"tag-artsanddesign","15":"tag-artsdesign","16":"tag-astrophotography","17":"tag-design","18":"tag-entertainment","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-nasa","22":"tag-training"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}