{"id":386794,"date":"2026-04-11T14:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T14:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/386794\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T14:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T14:06:12","slug":"artemis-ii-crew-used-modern-photography-to-tell-the-visual-story-of-their-lunar-journey-and-update-some-classic-apollo-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/386794\/","title":{"rendered":"Artemis II crew used modern photography to tell the visual story of their lunar journey \u2013 and update some classic Apollo images"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this point in NASA\u2019s human spaceflight story, researchers have a substantial amount of material<\/a> \u2013 documents, artifacts and images \u2013 with which to tell the stories of past flights to space. But with NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission around the Moon now in the books, we\u2019re getting a refreshed look at space<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And the digital photographs transmitted back to Earth \u2013 even mid-mission \u2013 tell a modern story of the crew\u2019s experience. Entire generations born after Apollo 17\u2019s last close-up looks<\/a> at the Moon in 1972 may hardly believe the reality of Artemis II in the age of AI-generated deep fakes. But this mission was real, and four humans<\/a> can tell the tale of their adventure using the photographs safely stored on memory cards now in NASA\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

As a space historian and curator<\/a> well-versed in the visual culture of human spaceflight, I\u2019ve long anticipated seeing the photographs of a return to the Moon. <\/p>\n

Post-Apollo, images of space travel were characterized by launching space shuttles<\/a>, Erector Set-like space stations and Mars rovers<\/a> crossing a dusty landscape. While the Artemis II photos have timeless, classic elements similar to the Apollo photos, better photographic tools give them a clean, crisp vibe. Space travel now looks more like many people may imagine it\u2019s supposed to look: grand, adventurous, audacious, sublime. <\/p>\n

As part of Gen X, I have no personal memory of Apollo. Like many born after NASA\u2019s first slate of lunar missions, my memories of space include visuals like the ill-fated Challenger launch<\/a>; Mercury program astronaut John Glenn\u2019s return to orbit in a space shuttle<\/a> in 1998, at age 77; and seeing photos of deep space from the Hubble Space telescope<\/a>. But these events didn\u2019t include humans on or near the Moon, and many people around my age are thirsty for their own lunar memories to share<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the internet and social media, which allow people to access images at a greater speed and volume than ever before, photographs from the Artemis II crew<\/a> became almost instantly iconic. They were also compared to what came before, as they fit within a mental catalog of exploration photography that\u2019s far older than humans\u2019 earliest attempts at space travel.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

Artemis II astronauts managed to capture a solar eclipse from space on April 6, 2026. The Moon shadowed the Sun entirely, with just its corona visible.
\n NASA<\/a><\/p>\n

Planning and taking photos<\/p>\n

Artemis II crew members Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen had weeks\u2019 worth of photography training<\/a> with a slew of Nikon digital cameras and iPhones. Taking photos with the device so many people have in their pockets is leaps and bounds beyond photography equipment used during Apollo 17 \u2013 even the 1960s-era 35mm camera<\/a>. <\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s preference for using the Nikon D5<\/a> on the International Space Station has extended to Artemis II. This camera performs well, and NASA likes tried and true reliability when astronauts travel to space.<\/p>\n

NASA took a decidedly different path when planning for images of the Moon with Artemis, compared to Apollo. First, the Orion spacecraft used on Artemis is bigger<\/a>, and it has double the number of windows and cameras inside. Five of Orion\u2019s six windows had live-streaming video cameras capturing the lunar flyby. <\/p>\n

Because of their wide swing around the Moon<\/a> at a distance greater than any Apollo flight, this crew could see more of the Moon in a single glance. <\/p>\n

Artemis\u2019 crew trained intensively with geologists and other scientists to be on the lookout for more prospective landing sites for future missions, craters and just interesting events or features. People watching live online<\/a> could hear their descriptions of what they saw. The conversation between the astronauts on the Orion capsule and the Artemis Science Team was also broadcast. <\/p>\n

Exciting new photos<\/p>\n

Based on the launch date and the position of the Moon, the crew was prepared for unique angles like Earthset \u2013 similar to sunset \u2013 and a solar eclipse<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

The famous Earthrise photo from Apollo 8 shows Earth rising across the lunar horizon. Artemis II\u2019s version, Earthset, shows it setting.
\n NASA<\/p>\n

Earthrise<\/a> \u2013 like sunrise \u2013 was made familiar by Apollo 8. But it wasn\u2019t visible in the same way for Artemis II due to the Moon\u2019s darkness in its current phase. So, while denied a chance to compare an Earthrise of today with that of 1968, another moment early in the mission provided what might be an even more spectacular visual alignment with memories of Apollo.<\/p>\n

In 1972, as the crew of Apollo 17 began their journey to the Moon, geologist Harrison Schmitt<\/a> captured a series of images of the fully lit disc of Earth at around five hours after the start of the mission. This photo became an icon within a series of iconic photographs of the Space Age, and probably the entire 20th century. It was even featured in Al Gore\u2019s film \u201cAn Inconvenient Truth.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

Earth as seen from Apollo 17 in 1972, captured by Harrison Schmitt, and during Artemis II in 2026.
\n NASA<\/p>\n

That was Earth 1972, and now we have Earth 2026 \u2013 both serving as documents of singular moments in Earth\u2019s long history. This new photograph shows Earth \u2013 lit by the Moon\u2019s glow, not the Sun, as with the Apollo 17 photo \u2013 in the black void of space, the thin sliver of our atmosphere shielding life, and generating polar aurorae<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Schmitt\u2019s \u201cBlue Marble<\/a>\u201d spent over five decades as one of the most-viewed photographs in history. And while people back on Earth saw the new Artemis version within hours of capture, it might get less public recognition in an age of photo manipulation and high-tech wizardry<\/a>. <\/p>\n

These first few images from Artemis II are just the tip of the imagery iceberg, though. Modern memory cards have a capacity that will allow the number of digital images from Artemis II to far surpass the nearly 4,000 photos<\/a> captured during Apollo 17<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In the weeks and months to come, as mission images fill online databases, Artemis II\u2019s significance as a fresh new vision for human space exploration will continue to grow, building on the lessons of Apollo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At this point in NASA\u2019s human spaceflight story, researchers have a substantial amount of material \u2013 documents, artifacts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[85,46,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-386794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}