Artemis II crew take 'spectacular' image of Earth

Nasa has shared the first high-resolution images of the Earth taken by the Artemis II crew as they head on their trip around the Moon.The mission's commander, Reid Wiseman, took the "spectacular" images, Nasa says, after the crew completed a final engine burn that set them on a trajectory towards our closest celestial neighbour.The first image, called Hello, World, shows the vast expanse of blue that is the Atlantic Ocean, framed by a thin glow of the atmosphere as the Earth eclipses the Sun and green auroras at either pole.The Earth appears to us as upside down, with the western Sahara and Iberian peninsula visible to the left and the eastern portion of South America to the right.Nasa identified the bright planet to the bottom right as Venus.The images were taken after the crew successfully completed a trans-lunar injection burn in the early hours of Friday.The burn took the Orion spacecraft out of Earth's orbit as the four astronauts aboard aim to travel the more than 200,000 miles to the Moon.Artemis II is now on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled outside of the Earth's orbit.The crew should pass around the far side of the Moon on 6 April and return to Earth on 10 April.After the burn was completed, the crew were "glued to the windows" taking pictures, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen told mission control in Houston."We are getting a beautiful view of the dark side of the Earth, lit by the Moon," he said.Wiseman later called back down to mission control in Houston to ask how to clean the windows, as the astronauts' enthusiasm to see into space had left them dirty.The commander had found it difficult to take pictures of our planet before they left Earth's orbit, describing it to mission control as like trying to take a picture of your house from up close.But that is no longer an issue.Another view captured by Wiseman shows the Earth divided by night and day. That frontier between light and darkness is known as the terminator.