The Artemis II astronauts captured Earth in incredible detail, even showing off the green auroras illuminating the atmosphere. This is why this landscape deeply inspires humans.
Artemis II captures stunning views of Earth
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts admired a view of Earth’s perfect crescent moon hours after the spacecraft lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
When four astronauts on the 10-day Artemis II mission orbiting the moon got their first clear view of Earth, the distant view of their home planet stopped them in their tracks.
They captured stunning photos of Earth from the first manned moon mission in 50 years. This photo was taken by Captain Reed Wiseman from the window of the Orion spacecraft on April 2nd, showing Earth from tens of thousands of miles away. It captured Earth’s “spectacular blues and browns” and even captured two aurora borealis illuminating the atmosphere.
The image stunned those back on Earth following the Artemis II mission, but they may never get the chance to see our home planet from space with their own eyes. But the view also had a profound effect on the crew, the first humans to leave Earth’s orbit since 1972.
“There was a moment about an hour ago when Controller Houston turned the spacecraft around as the sun was setting behind the Earth, and I don’t know what all of us were expecting at that moment,” Wiseman told reporters during a Q&A from space on April 2, explaining every detail of the Earth the crew was able to see. “It was the most spectacular moment and stopped all four of us in our tracks.”
Until now, astronauts have been able to see glimpses of northern lights, lightning strikes, and illuminated metropolitan areas as evidence of human life. Seeing the Earth from above has such a transformative effect on astronauts that there is an entire psychological phenomenon to explain it, called the Overview Effect. It could change the astronaut’s entire view of Earth and life itself.
Astronauts will also see parts of the moon that no one has ever seen before, the far side of the moon that is not visible from Earth. It will happen during a roughly six-hour period on April 6, when the sun, moon and Orion spacecraft will line up just right, allowing astronauts to see about 20 percent of the moon’s sunlit far side, according to NASA.
Here’s what an astronaut said when looking back at Earth from space:
The crew of Artemis II described “breathtaking” views of Earth and detailed what they were seeing. Christina Koch, a specialist on the Artemis II mission, said that from space, you can see the continent’s coastline, rivers, thunderclouds and the illuminated South Pole, NPR reported. Wiseman’s photo shows the aurora above the poles lit up in green.
“Nothing can prepare you for the breathtaking sight of seeing your home planet illuminated as brightly as day and the moon sparkling at night in the light of a beautiful sunset,” Koch told reporters in a livestream from space.
“You’ll see the entire Earth from pole to pole, you’ll see Africa and Europe, and if you look even closer you’ll see the aurora borealis,” Wiseman said.
For decades, astronauts have been trying to put into words the experience of seeing Earth from a variety of missions. Alan Shepard was the first American to view Earth from space during a 15-minute suborbital flight from the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule in 1961.
“If someone said to me before I got on a plane, ‘Are you going crazy looking at the Earth from the moon?'” Shepard said after walking on the moon during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. “But when I stood on the moon and looked back at the Earth for the first time, I cried.”
The International Space Station offers an especially good view of Earth from its seven-window cupola module. Former NASA astronaut Nicole Stott said she looked for her home state of Florida when she first visited the ISS in 2009.
“I wanted to go to the window and look at it, and then at some point I realized I wasn’t looking at Florida the same way anymore,” she said. “I still wanted to see Florida, but Florida had just become home, a special part of the Earth. We are all Earthlings.”
What is the summary effect?
The life-changing effect of viewing the Earth from space has attracted psychological research and was coined the “overview effect” by space philosopher and author Frank White in 1987. He first thought of this phenomenon during a transcontinental flight and decided to start interviewing astronauts. He said one of the most common experiences they shared was seeing the reality that there are no borders or boundaries that separate people.
“And what the astronauts were saying to me is, I knew before we got into orbit, before we went to the moon, there was no little dotted line, but it’s knowing it intellectually and experiencing it,” White said on a NASA podcast in 2019.
White said the common conclusion astronauts drew from their observations was: “We are truly in this together. Our destiny is tied up with people who we may think are really different. We may have different religions, we may have different politics, but ultimately we are connected. Totally connected.”
White said it’s difficult to convey this concept because “words are all we have.” To fully understand, he said, you have to see it for yourself.
Koch described the synopsis effect from the International Space Station in a November 2025 NASA publication:
“The overview effect means that when you’re looking through the cupola, you can see the Earth against the background of the entire universe. You see a thin blue line of the atmosphere. And when you’re on the dark side of the Earth, you can actually see this very thin green line that shows where the atmosphere is. That’s what you perceive. is that everyone you know is alive and everything inside and outside that green line is completely inhospitable. You see no borders, no religion, all you see is the earth, and you see that we are much more alike than we are different.”
“Would you like to live your life a little differently? Would you really choose to be part of the Earth community?” Artemis II pilot Victor Glover previously said.
Asked about division on Earth on April 2, Glover said, “Trust me, you look amazing and beautiful. And from here, you look the same. Homo sapiens, all of us, no matter where we come from or what we look like, we’re all one human being.”
Compare Apollo’s 1972 “Blue Marble” photo with Artemis II’s Earth photo.
In a social media post this week, NASA compared two photos taken more than half a century apart side by side.
The first photo is the famous “Blue Marble” photo taken in December 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to land on the moon.
The second photo was taken on April 2, 2026 during the Artemis II mission, which does not include a moon landing but paves the way for future landings and space exploration.
