“Make new friends, but keep the old. A new photo captures
the Moon's near side on the right (the side we see from Earth, identifiable by
its dark splotches) and its far side on the left. The Artemis II crew are the
first to see the far side with human eyes,” the agency said.
CNN
reported that Artemis II is not expected to fly past the moon until the sixth
day after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, but the astronauts were already able to
see what the network described as “unprecedented views” of the moon on the
mission’s third day.
“The crew photographed the large Orientale Basin, which had
never before been seen or photographed by humans — only by robotic spacecraft.
The basin, about 600 miles wide, is a key transition zone between the moon’s
near and far sides,” CNN reported.
Artemis II crew member Christina Koch also commented on the
exclusive image.
“The moon we’re looking at is nothing like the one you see
from Earth,” she said, adding that the flyby is expected to bring many more
moments like that.
Artemis II is the second mission in NASA’s Artemis program
and the first to carry astronauts aboard the Space Launch System rocket and the
Orion spacecraft. Four astronauts set off on a looping journey around the moon
and back.
The crew includes commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor
Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen
of the Canadian Space Agency.
The mission is expected to last about 10 days. During that
time, the crew will fly around the moon and return to Earth. The astronauts
will not land on the lunar surface.
Artemis II is the first crewed lunar mission since the
Apollo program ended in 1972. Apollo 17 was the last mission to leave the lunar
surface, and no human has flown past the moon since then.