NASA Astronaut Captures Rare Earthset from the Moon
In a breathtaking moment witnessed by only a few, Earth vanished behind the moon, revealing a stunning sight. This remarkable event was captured by NASA astronaut Reed Wiseman during the Artemis II mission, where he commanded the lunar orbiting flight.
Wiseman took to social media, sharing an extraordinary video of our planet disappearing from view. He described the experience as akin to observing a beach sunset from the most exotic seat in the universe, marking it as a truly once-in-a-lifetime encounter that was recorded from the window of the Orion spacecraft.
The Artemis II mission launched on April 1, with Wiseman joined by fellow astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The crew orbited both the Earth and the moon over a span of 10 days, returning home on April 10 and landing safely in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego.
Notably, the astronauts became the first humans to witness much of the moon’s far side—the hemisphere that consistently faces away from Earth—through their own eyes during this mission.
On April 6, while cruising around the moon, Wiseman seized the moment to record a cell phone video of the Earthset, showcasing intricate details of the moon’s cratered landscape. He noted that the moon was barely visible through the docking window, yet his iPhone proved ideal for capturing the view, providing an uncropped and unfiltered 8x zoom image that closely resembled what the human eye perceives.
As Wiseman filmed the Earthset, his crewmates were also engaged in documenting the moon’s surface, taking photographs and making observations about its impact craters and rugged features. Wiseman shared the sounds of the Nikon camera shutter as Koch took remarkable Earthset photos through her 400mm lens.
The astronauts dedicated approximately seven hours to photographing and collecting data during their lunar flyby. Initial images from the mission reveal breathtaking vistas of the moon’s topography, with Earth visible in the background. Additional images will be released in the weeks and months ahead.
Wiseman’s Earthset video serves as a tribute to the iconic Earthrise photograph captured during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. While the Apollo 8 images depicted the Earth emerging from behind the moon, Wiseman’s footage encapsulates the moment when our planet recedes from view.
The Artemis II mission marks NASA’s first return to the moon in over half a century. Wiseman, Koch, Glover, and Hansen were pioneers aboard the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule. Looking ahead, NASA is focusing on the Artemis III mission, set for mid-2027, which will involve technology demonstrations with commercial lunar landers from SpaceX or Blue Origin, paving the way for planned lunar landings in subsequent missions.
