NASA releases 12,000 new Artemis II moon mission photos showing rare views from Orion spacecraft

NASA has released more than 12,000 new photographs from the historic Artemis II mission, giving the public a closer look at the crew’s journey around the far side of the moon.

The images were uploaded to NASA’s public astronaut photography archive over the weekend.

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The collection includes views captured during the 10-day mission in April, when the Artemis II crew travelled around the moon and safely returned to Earth.

The photographs were taken inside the Orion spacecraft by NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover, alongside Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Some of the images had already been released, including rare views of the moon’s far side during a solar eclipse and striking pictures of Earth disappearing behind the lunar horizon.

NASA said the images will help scientists study the mission in greater detail as preparations continue for future lunar exploration missions.

Artemis II was the first crewed mission in NASA’s Artemis programme and is considered a major step towards returning humans to the moon.

NASA is aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface again as early as 2028.