{"id":375846,"date":"2026-04-12T11:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375846\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T11:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T11:49:09","slug":"human-minds-shouldnt-have-to-go-through-this-artemis-ii-crew-recalls-unreal-moment-when-earth-disappeared-space-photo-of-the-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375846\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Human minds shouldn’t have to go through’ this: Artemis II crew recalls unreal moment when Earth disappeared \u2014 Space photo of the week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quick facts<\/p>\n

What it is: “Earthset” as seen by the crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission<\/p>\n

Where it is: 4,070 miles (6,550 kilometers) above the lunar surface<\/p>\n

When it was shared: April 6, 2026.<\/p>\n

This striking image shows a crescent Earth slipping behind the moon’s rugged limb. This “Earthset” was witnessed by the crew of NASA<\/a>‘s Artemis II mission and is arguably the highlight<\/a> of the first mission around the moon since 1972. Moments after this image was taken, the Orion spacecraft passed behind the moon, beginning a 31-minute communications blackout with Mission Control in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

In the foreground lies the sharply defined lunar surface, while beyond it, Earth hangs delicately in space, with Australia and Oceania in daylight while the rest fades into night. It’s a view that left the crew emotional.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“I’m actually getting chills right now \u2014 just thinking about it, my palms are sweating,” Commander Reid Wiseman said from the Orion capsule during a live news conference on Wednesday (April 8). “It is amazing to watch your home planet disappear behind the moon. You can see the atmosphere. You can see the terrain on the moon projected across the Earth \u2026 it was just an unbelievable sight \u2026 and then it was gone. It was out of sight.”<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

The image inevitably invites comparison with the Earthrise<\/a> captured during the Apollo 8 mission on Christmas Eve 1968 \u2014 the mission that took three humans around the moon for the first time. That photograph, taken by pilot Bill Anders, revealed Earth as a fragile, finite world suspended in darkness \u2014 a perspective widely credited with helping to spur the modern environmental movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Mission\n<\/p>\n

Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen (CSA) snaps photos of the moon through the Orion spacecraft window during the crew’s 7-hour lunar flyby. (Image credit: NASA)<\/p>\n

The crew of Artemis II later took their own Earthrise image<\/a>, but it was that initial Earthset \u2014 also taken a little farther out<\/a>, in close up<\/a> and in wide angle<\/a> \u2014 that deeply affected Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.<\/p>\n

Human minds shouldn’t have to go through what these just went through.<\/p>\n

Reid Wiseman, Artemis II Commander<\/p>\n

“The four of us took a moment,” Wiseman said. “We shared maple cookies that Jeremy had brought. We took about three or four minutes as a crew to reflect on where we were \u2014 and then it was right back into the science.”<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot that our brains have to process,” Wiseman added. “Human minds shouldn’t have to go through what these just went through, and it is a true gift.”<\/p>\n

Get the world\u2019s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

The original Earthrise image announced humanity’s arrival at the moon. It was unexpected and improvised. Earthset was intentional \u2014 and signals humanity’s return to the moon<\/a> after more than half a century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quick facts What it is: “Earthset” as seen by the crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission Where it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-375846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}