New Delhi, April 4 (IANS). Astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission have sent very spectacular and beautiful pictures of the Earth while reaching the Moon.
A photo taken by Commander Reed Wiseman shows Earth’s curved surface through the window of the Orion capsule. In the second picture, the entire Earth is visible, in which the oceans, white clouds and green light aurora are clearly visible.
According to reports, this is the first time in more than half a century that humans have reached so close to the Moon.
While sharing the photo on X, NASA wrote, “This photo taken by the Artemis II crew shows the light of human activities on Earth. Below, sunlight is illuminating the edge of the Earth.”
In the first photo, due to higher shutter speed, more light coming from the Earth was captured, while in the second photo, the Earth glowing at night is shown better through lower shutter speed.
Another picture shows a clear boundary between day and night on Earth, which is called the ‘terminator’.
NASA wrote with this picture, “Whether we are awake or dreaming, we are all on this planet together.”
“It’s nice to think that we’re all included in this picture, except for our four astronauts,” said Exploration Systems Leader Lakeisha Hawkins. He also informed that the mission is progressing well.
By late Friday evening, NASA astronauts had reached about 1,80,000 kilometers from Earth, and they still have to travel about 2,40,000 kilometers to reach the Moon, where they will probably reach by Monday.
The team of three Americans and one Canadian plan to board their Orion capsule and circle the Moon, make a U-turn and return straight back to Earth without landing. This team has become the first human team to reach the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
–IANS
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