FREE RETURNARTEMIS II · APRIL 1–10, 2026

Artemis II · the crew's photographsFREE
RETURN

Ride Orion's real path around the Moon and back. Every photograph appears where and when the crew took it, from liftoff to Earthset to splashdown.

9,729MOON, EARTH & ECLIPSE FRAMES
4,067 MIABOVE THE FAR SIDE
252,756 MIFARTHEST FROM EARTH
9D 1H 32MMISSION
LOADING EARTH AND MOON…
Photographs: NASA / Artemis II crew: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen (CSA). Orion's path is rebuilt from the spacecraft position NASA logged with each photo.

Artemis II photos, chapter by chapter

Artemis II launched on April 1, 2026 at 6:35 p.m. EDT with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Over ten days Orion flew around the far side of the Moon and back to a splashdown in the Pacific off San Diego. Free Return places the crew's photographs where and when they were taken, on Orion's path rebuilt from the position NASA logged with every photo: closest approach 6,546 km above the far side, and 252,754 miles from Earth, farther than any humans have traveled.

  1. Launch: April 1, 2026, 6:35 p.m. EDT. Four astronauts leave Florida for the first crewed flight beyond Earth orbit since 1972.
  2. High Earth orbit: A day looping around Earth to check out Orion: life support, navigation, manual flying.
  3. Hello, world: The translunar burn. Earth falls away in the window — the first time humans have seen it whole since Apollo 17.
  4. The long coast: Three days coasting outbound. Earth shrinks to a crescent; the Moon grows ahead.
  5. Lunar approach: The Moon fills the windows. The crew begins seven hours of lunar photography.
  6. The far side: Ground no human eye had seen directly in 53 years: Orientale, Hertzsprung, Vavilov.
  7. Earthset: Behind the Moon, out of contact with home, they watch Earth slip below the lunar horizon.
  8. Eclipse: The Sun disappears behind the Moon. The corona blooms around a black disk.
  9. Homeward: The free return. Lunar gravity bends the path back toward a growing blue Earth.
  10. Splashdown: Entry at about 25,000 mph, three parachutes, and the Pacific off San Diego.

Browse every photo on the path, or open any chapter above. Photographs: NASA / Artemis II crew.