dailyloe.com – NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman filmed a video of Earth setting behind the moon during the Artemis II mission. He posted the spectacular video on X from the lunar far side. Wiseman described the view as watching sunset from the most foreign seat in the cosmos. He filmed it out the window of the Orion spacecraft.
Wiseman commanded the Artemis II mission around the moon with three crewmates. The crew included NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen was also part of the mission. They launched toward the moon on April 1.
The astronauts spent ten days circling Earth and the moon. They returned home on April 10, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Their landing was off the coast of San Diego. During the mission, they became the first people to see much of the lunar far side with their own eyes.
Wiseman captured the cell phone video of Earthset on April 6. He said he could not resist filming it while traveling around the moon. The video shows close-up details of the moon’s crater-filled surface. Wiseman noted he could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window.
He said the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view. The posted video is uncropped and uncut with 8x zoom. Wiseman stated this zoom is quite comparable to the view of the human eye. He called the experience a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
Fellow crew members were also busy during the lunar flyby. Christina Koch was snapping photos with a Nikon camera. Wiseman wrote you could hear the shutter as she hammered away. She used 3-shot brackets and a 400mm lens to capture Earthset photos.
The astronauts spent about seven hours taking photos and gathering observations. They recorded details about the moon’s impact craters and rugged topography. Photos released from the mission show stunning views of the moon’s terrain. Earth is visible in the distance in these images.
Many more images are expected to be publicly released soon. They will come out in the coming weeks and months. Wiseman’s Earthset video references an iconic Apollo 8 photo. The 1968 Apollo 8 photo was called Earthrise.
The Apollo 8 photo showed Earth re-emerging into view. Wiseman’s video shows Earth disappearing behind the moon. Both capture our home planet from a profound lunar perspective. The new footage continues a legacy of celestial photography.
