Cape Canaveral: The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planet’s brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon.

NASA released the crew’s first downlinked images Friday, one-and-a-half days into the first astronaut moonshot in more than half a century.

Curved slice of Earth seen

The first photo taken by Commander Reid Wiseman shows a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsule’s windows. The second shows the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling white tendrils of clouds. A green aurora even glows, according to NASA.

“It’s great to think that except for our four friends, all of us are represented in this image,” said NASA’s Lakiesha Hawkins, an exploration systems leader. She added that the mission was going well.

Good morning, world! 🌎

We have spectacular new high-resolution images of our home planet, all of us looking back through the Orion capsule window at our Artemis II astronauts as they continue their journey to the Moon. pic.twitter.com/QjxGfWiRcS

— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2026

As of late Friday afternoon, Wiseman and his crew were more than 180,000 km from Earth and were quickly gaining on the moon with another 240,000 km to go. They should reach their destination on Monday.

The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping. They fired Orion’s main engine Thursday night that set them on their course.

After Mission Control shifted the position of their capsule, the entire Earth complete with northern lights filled their windows.

In this image, also taken from the Orion capsule, we see the divide between night and day, known as the terminator, cutting across Earth. Whether awake or dreaming, we're all here on this planet together. pic.twitter.com/NhtD2DjBYQ

— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2026

“It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks,” Wiseman said in a TV interview.