NASA’s Artemis II mission, carrying four astronauts on an out-of-this-world journey, flew around the Moon on Monday.
The crew members took turns describing the stunning landscape below and captured images of Earth rising behind the Moon, in communications with Mission Control in Houston. What they did not send back in real time, due to a lack of communications bandwidth, was this high-resolution imagery.
That changed on Monday night, when Orion established an optical link with ground stations on Earth to send high-resolution images back to the planet. NASA has been uploading them to Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page.
This is an exciting update! The quality of the photos from the Artemis II mission really showcases the beauty of the Moon. It’s amazing to think about the journey those astronauts are on. Looking forward to more updates!