Left: Close-up of rocket engines with smoke and flames at launch. Right: Two missiles in flight, leaving bright trails and plumes against a dark sky. Both images are in black and white.

NASA continues to upload more media from its exciting Artemis II launch last week and ongoing lunar mission. Part of the latest batch of images is infrared still frames and videos from the Artemis II launch, which not only provide useful data for scientists but look spectacular for everyone else.

The black and white infrared images capture details that visible light cameras cannot, especially when looking at the rocket thrusters and initial liftoff. The Artemis II launch occurred in the early evening at 6:35 PM EDT in Florida. The weather was clear, and the sky was still quite bright and blue, making certain details difficult to pick out in visible light.

However, when shooting in infrared, the sky appears much darker. The atmosphere scatters significantly less infrared light than visible light. Consider one of the photos below that shows the two solid rocket boosters from NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket after they separated from the Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II astronauts Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen into space. In this image, the blue sky is nearly black, making it easier to see the materials spewing from the pair of rocket boosters.

A black-and-white image shows three rocket boosters descending through the night sky, each with bright flames and visible trails of smoke beneath them. Two boosters are near each other at the top, and one is lower down.In this black and white infrared image, two solid rocket boosters from NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket separate from the core stage and Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, along with Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) following liftoff at 6:35 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Artemis II test flight will take the crew members on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back. | Credit: NASA Close-up view of the bottom of a rocket at launch, showing three large engines firing bright flames and emitting smoke, with parts of the rocket body visible in detailed, high-contrast black and white.In this black and white infrared image, NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, along with Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), lifts off at 6:35 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Artemis II test flight will take the crew members on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back. | Credit: NASA
Close-up, black and white image of a rocket engine during liftoff, showing intense plumes of smoke and vapor emerging from the nozzles against a bright background.Credit: NASA Close-up, black-and-white view of a rocket’s engines at liftoff, with bright flames and smoke pouring out beneath, highlighting the details of the engine nozzles and lower section of the spacecraft.Credit: NASA

NASA also shared new images from a much more traditional Nikon D850 DSLR cameras positioned at the launch site. As expected, given the proximity to the launch site, the cameras were placed inside special housings. This means that with the Nikkor AF-S 20mm f/1.8G lenses NASA used, part of the view is obscured by protective materials. Needs must, as it gets awfully hot at the launch site.

Aerial view of NASA’s Artemis I rocket launching from a launch pad, with white smoke billowing out and green fields and water visible in the background.In this photograph looking down, NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, along with Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), lifts off at 6:35 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center I Florida. | Credit: NASA Close-up view of a rocket launching, with water spray and flames at the base, a tall orange and white rocket body rising against a clear blue sky, framed by a dark circular border.Credit: NASA A rocket launches vertically, viewed from above with engines igniting and smoke billowing below. The image shows the rocket’s main fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters, with green fields and a runway in the background.Credit: NASA

One of the photos above shows NASA’s water deluge system in action. This system releases approximately 450,000 gallons of water across the mobile launcher and flame deflector system to reduce the extreme temperatures generated by the rocket at liftoff. The rocket’s exhaust engines generate heat around 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,315 degrees Celsius) during the launch.

PetaPixel featured photographer Steven Madow’s fantastic remote camera photos from the Artemis II launch last week, but NASA was, understandably, able to put its own cameras even closer to the rocket.


Image credits: NASA. Nikon D850 photos by Kevin Davis, Doug Sperling, and Jacob Robertson