EverythingScience

You've seen his visualizations. Now, meet the man who knows the far side of the Moon like the back of his hand.

Ernie Wright maps the Moon, which comes in handy when training NASA Artemis astronauts to see parts of the lunar surface humans have never laid eyes on before.

Working up an appetite!

As Victor Glover gets in his exercise for the day, Jeremy R. Hansen is preparing the crew's midday meal.

Artemis II update: our European Service Module's main engine performed the translunar injection so precisely that flight controllers in Houston decided to cancel the first of three outbound trajectory correction burns on the way to the Moon🥳

Lights, camera… lunar action. 📸🌕

For Artemis II, Orion will carry 31 cameras designed to capture the mission from every angle. From external cameras mounted on the solar arrays to internal cabin views documenting crew life, these imaging systems will record key moments like launch, solar array deployment, and the spacecraft’s distant journey around the Moon. A dedicated optical navigation camera will photograph Earth and the Moon to help Orion determine its position in deep space, while handheld Nikon Z9 cameras give the crew the ability to capture high‑resolution imagery through the windows.

In this image, also taken from the Orion capsule, we see the divide between night and day, known as the terminator, cutting across Earth. Whether awake or dreaming, we're all here on this planet together.

These two images were taken by Reid Wiseman only minutes apart. The stark difference is the result of camera settings. In the first, a longer shutter speed let in much more light from Earth, while the shorter shutter speed in the second emphasizes our planet's nighttime glow.

That's us! 🌍

The Artemis II crew captured beautiful, high-resolution images of our home planet during their journey to the Moon. As Christina H Koch put it: "You guys look great."

‍This looks like it's a daytime shot, but, it's actually taken from the dark side of Earth, with the planet illuminated by moonlight. This lets faint details like the aurora, stars and the sodium layer show up without over exposing the planet.

“I’m the space plumber, I’m proud to call myself the space plumber.”

Mission specialists like Christina H Koch train for all roles so they can jump in wherever they’re needed. Sometimes that means fixing vital machinery, like the spacecraft toilet.

🌚 Nominal translunar injection burn complete. The Artemis II crew is officially on the way to the Moon.

America is back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon. This time, farther than ever before.

Artemis II launch from the tower in slow motion. ‍Graded and re-interpolated by me, shot by NASA!

Artemis II launch in VERY slow motion

Just 1,500 feet (457 m) from the Artemis II launch, we deployed our special high-resolution, slow-motion camera to record the blast-off in jaw-dropping detail at 2,000 frames per second. Find out how we did it: on.natgeo.com/0BXGmi

Time-lapse of the successful ICPS-Orion proximity test!

‍🌚 Artemis II update: GO for TLI!

For the 'Translunar Injection' burn, the spacecraft will ignite the main engine on the European Service Module for five minutes and 49 seconds beginning at 00:49 BST/01:49 CEST
Read more: nasa.gov/blogs/missions…

ARTEMIS II IS GO FOR TRANS-LUNAR INJECTION! Mission Control Houston just confirmed to Orion Integrity, following a meeting of the Mission Management Team (MMT).

NASA’s Artemis II mission blasted off on Wednesday. Now brace yourselves for exciting high-resolution 4K footage live-streamed of the surface of the moon thanks to NASA's laser-based O2O system. The cutting-edge Orion Artemis II Optical Communications system (O2O) will be used to beam 4K moon footage at up to 260 Mbps. We should also be treated to never-before-seen views of “the far side of the Moon, using Nikon digital cameras,” reports The BBC’s Sky at Night magazine.

COMING UP: in a few hours at 23:43 UTC, a final burn will send the crew on their way to the Moon. This will be performed by our European Service Module's main engine.