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NASA releases picture of ‘Earthset’ shot by Artemis crew

New NASA ‘Earthset’ photo from Artemis II echoes Apollo 8’s iconic “Earthrise” in historic lunar flyby.

Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window on April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew's flyby of the Moon. [Handout/NASA/Getty Images via AFP]
By AFP
Published On 8 Apr 2026

NASA has unveiled a new historic view of our planet, releasing a photograph of Earth slipping below the lunar horizon more than 57 years after the iconic “Earthrise” image was captured by an Apollo 8 astronaut.

Members of the Artemis II crew took the shot from their Orion capsule during a record-setting flyby of the moon, consciously echoing the legendary “Earthrise” photograph taken by US astronaut Bill Anders in December 1968, during the first mission to carry humans around the moon.

Image showing Earthrise over the moon made on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, from Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, as it entered lunar orbit, left, and an image showing Earth as it dips beyond the lunar horizon, also known as ‘Earthset’, as seen from the Orion spacecraft on April 6, 2026 [Handout/ NASA via AFP]
The US space agency shared its new “Earthset” image on X, as did the White House.

“Humanity, from the other side,” the White House said. “First photo from the far side of the Moon. Captured from Orion as Earth dips beyond the lunar horizon.”

The four-member crew – US astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen – are on a landmark journey looping around Earth’s natural satellite, part of a broader programme intended to pave the way for a moon landing in 2028.

Along the way, they have described in vivid detail the contours and craters of the lunar surface and later observed a solar eclipse, when the moon passed in front of the sun.

The White House also posted a NASA image of the eclipse, calling it “a view few in human history have ever witnessed.”

In 1968, Apollo 8 orbited the moon 10 times without landing. During one of those passes, Anders captured Earth’s brilliant blue disc set against the blackness of space, framed by the stark, grey lunar horizon in the foreground.

“Earthrise” is frequently cited among the most iconic photographs ever taken and was included in 2003 in Life magazine’s book “100 Photographs That Changed the World.”

The Orion spacecraft, crescent moon and a crescent Earth on April 6, 2026. [Handout/NASA via AFP]
Earth sets over the moon's curved limb in this photo captured by the Artemis II crew during their journey around the far side of the moon. [Handout/NASA/Getty Images via AFP]
The Artemis II astronauts wrapped up their lunar flyby as they continue their journey back to Earth. [Handout/NASA via AFP]
The Orion spacecraft and the moon backlit by the sun during a solar eclipse on April 6, 2026. [Handout/NASA via AFP]
The moon fully eclipsing the sun. [Handout/NASA/Getty Images via AFP]
The heavily cratered terrain of the eastern edge of the South Pole-Aitken basin of the moon, as seen from the Orion spacecraft on April 6, 2026. [Handout/NASA via AFP]
A close-up view of the Vavilov Crater on the rim of the older and larger Hertzsprung basin of the moon, as seen from the Orion spacecraft. [Handout/NASA via AFP]
The moon with the Orientale basin visible in the centre, with a black patch of ancient lava in the center that punched through the moon's crust in an eruption billions of years ago. [Handout/NASA via AFP]