Here’s how to see a ton of new Artemis II photos from NASA and a gallery containing 15 of the best photos.
During their ground-breaking journey around the moon and back, NASA’s Artemis II crew couldn’t help but take tons of photos to document their journey.
Haven’t seen enough images and videos of historic missions yet?
You’re in luck, because NASA just dropped thousands of photos taken during the fascinating spaceflight, which began with a liftoff in Florida on April 1st and ended with a splashdown near California on April 10th.
Many photos have already been widely circulated documenting the Artemis II mission, the first human flight near the moon in more than half a century. But the latest photo dump includes more than 12,000 snapshots taken by NASA’s Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Here’s how to see tons of new photos of Artemis II from the U.S. space agency, as well as a gallery containing 15 of the best photos.
NASA releases 12,000 new photos from Artemis II mission
NASA and the Artemis II astronauts were able to share some photos from their lunar trip along the way. But since the crew returned to Earth with all their equipment, the astronauts and NASA team have taken great care to comb through all the images they collected during their time in space.
Now, NASA is sharing its vast image trove with the public through the Earth’s Gateway to Astronaut Photography website.
The images span the entire duration of the trip to the moon and back, including during the lunar flight on April 6, when it approached about 4,067 miles above the moon’s surface.
You can view the complete collection of 12,217 photos at this link. Please note that it may take some time to load.
Here are some of Artemis’s best new photos
What is Artemis II’s mission?
As the astronauts selected for the Artemis II mission, Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen boarded NASA’s Orion space capsule for a 10-day journey around the moon.
The Orion spacecraft rode atop NASA’s 322-foot-tall Space Launch System rocket April 1, lifting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the mission, the Orion spacecraft carried a crew of four from Earth farther than any humankind had ever traveled before, giving the astronauts a view of the far side of the Moon never seen directly before.
The mission ended on April 10 with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
When will NASA astronauts return to the moon?
Artemis II primarily served as a test flight to ensure that the systems and hardware were working as intended before NASA attempts a series of manned moon landings in the coming years.
The new crew of Artemis III astronauts will then dock into Earth orbit in 2027 with one or both of the commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. The mission is also a key test flight ahead of Artemis 4 in 2028, and will be the first time humans have set foot on the moon since NASA’s last Apollo mission in 1972.
Under the Artemis program, NASA plans to repeat unmanned and manned moon landings and build a $20 billion lunar base near the moon’s south pole where astronauts can live and operate indefinitely. The mission will prepare for future adventures deep into the solar system, including the first human expedition to Mars.
Eric Lagatta is a Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact elagatta@usatodayco.com.
