Artemis II captures Earthset photo echoing Apollo 8's Earthrise
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- Artemis II astronauts captured an 'Earthset' photo on their return Tuesday, with NASA releasing the shot showing Earth dropping below the lunar horizon in a deliberate nod to Apollo 8's 1968 'Earthrise' image taken by Bill Anders
- The crew of four — Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen — broke the 1970 Apollo 13 distance record, reaching 252,756 miles (406,771 km) from Earth, more than 4,000 miles beyond the previous mark
- Glover, Koch, and Hansen each set firsts on the mission: Glover as the first person of color, Koch as the first woman, and Hansen as the first non-American to fly around the moon
- The crew witnessed a solar eclipse from space, reported meteor strikes flashing on the lunar surface, and Glover said 'Humans probably have not evolved to see what we're seeing. It is truly hard to describe. It is amazing.'
- Donald Trump, 79, called the crew late Monday, calling them 'modern-day pioneers' — and experienced his own signal glitch during the call, waiting a full minute for the connection to return
- The astronauts requested two previously unnamed lunar craters be called 'Integrity' (after their spacecraft's nickname) and 'Carroll' (after the late wife of commander Wiseman, who died of cancer), with NASA to submit the proposals to the International Astronomical Union
Why it matters: Artemis II's flyby surpassed Apollo 13's 55-year-old distance record by more than 4,000 miles, while Glover, Koch, and Hansen became the first person of color, first woman, and first non-American to loop around the moon — milestones that resuscitate crewed lunar travel and set up a targeted 2028 landing.
