Photos: NASA releases first images from moon flyby

The Picture Show Photos: NASA releases first images from moon flyby April 7, 202610:35 AM ET By  NPR Staff Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. ET on April 6 during the Artemis II crew's flyby of the moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upward during the crater's formation. NASA hide caption toggle caption NASA The Artemis II astronauts are making their way back to Earth after the lunar flyby. The crew became the first astronauts in over 50 years to fly around the far side of the moon. They also experienced a solar eclipse. During the mission's loop around the moon, the crew took geological observations of places of interest on the lunar surface with their own eyes and snapping thousands of photos of the surface. The crew will return to Earth on Friday and splash down off the coast of California. NASA says a landing on the lunar surface won't happen until 2028, at the earliest. Sponsor Message Here is what they captured. April 6: Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby, this image shows the moon fully eclipsing the sun. From the crew's perspective, the moon appears large enough to completely block the sun, creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth. The corona forms a glowing halo around the dark lunar disk, revealing details of the sun's outer atmosphere typically hidden by its brightness. Also visible are stars, typically too faint to see when imaging the moon, but with the moon in darkness, stars are readily imaged. This unique vantage point provides both a striking visual and a valuable opportunity for astronauts to document and describe the corona during humanity's...