FREE RETURN / THE FAR SIDE / ART002-E-20831

Artemis II · The far side · April 6, 2026

The lunar far side near Vavilov, from 8,247 km

Taken April 6, 2026 at 21:39:08 UTC (Apr 6, 5:39 PM EDT), mission time T+04d 23:04:08, with a Nikon D5 at 400 mm. Orion was 412,270 km (256,173 mi) from Earth and 8,247 km above the Moon. Directly below the spacecraft: the area near Vavilov.

Taken

April 6, 2026 at 21:39:08 UTC · Apr 6, 5:39 PM EDT

Mission time

T+04d 23:04:08

Camera

Nikon D5 · 400 mm lens

From Earth

412,270 km · 256,173 mi

Above the Moon

8,247 km · 5,124 mi

Below Orion

0.3°S 138.5°W on the Moon

Chapter

The far side — Ground no human eye had seen directly in 53 years: Orientale, Hertzsprung, Vavilov.

NASA record

ART002-E-20831 on NASA's Gateway to Astronaut Photography ↗

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