Half a century after the Apollo 17 mission produced the legendary ‘Blue Marble’ photograph that reshaped humanity’s perspective of our home planet, NASA has unveiled a breathtaking new set of high-resolution images of Earth, captured by the crew of the groundbreaking Artemis II mission.
Released publicly on April 4, 2026, the crystal-clear images were taken just three days into the 10-day lunar mission, as the four-person crew cruised toward the Moon at a distance of nearly 100,000 miles from Earth. Mission commander Reid Wiseman, one of the four crew members, personally captured the shots that are already drawing comparisons to the 1972 Apollo 17 image that became an iconic symbol of planetary unity.
One of the most striking frames showcases Earth’s rich, swirling hues of deep ocean blue and continental brown, with a vivid green aurora dancing along the curve of the atmosphere to dramatic effect. A second image captures the crisp terminator line that divides day from night across the planet, with the warm glow of human city lights punctuating the darkened landmasses below.
The Artemis II mission, which launched ahead of its scheduled April 6 lunar flyby, is already rewriting human spaceflight history. The four-person crew flying aboard NASA’s Orion capsule is on track to travel farther from Earth than any human mission has ever gone, surpassing the 45-year-old record set by Apollo 13 of 248,655 miles from our home planet.
Alongside breaking distance records, the mission also marks several historic firsts for space exploration. Joining commander Wiseman on the flight are NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Glover has become the first Black person to travel to the lunar vicinity, Koch the first woman to reach this milestone, and Hansen the first Canadian astronaut to journey to the neighborhood around the Moon.
NASA officials frame Artemis II as far more than a test flight: it is a critical stepping stone toward the agency’s long-term goal of returning humans to the lunar surface for sustained exploration, and laying the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars later this century. Space enthusiasts and scientists alike have welcomed the new images, noting that they not only honor the legacy of 1970s lunar exploration but also highlight how far human spaceflight has advanced in the intervening 50 years.
