NASA releases amazing new images of the surface of the moon

Alex Mead

featured

Nov 24, 2022

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Liftoff! NASA’s Space Launch System carrying the Orion spacecraft lifts off the pad at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:47 a.m. EST on Nov. 16, 2022 Chris Coleman & Kevin Davis/NASA

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The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. Chris Coleman & Kevin Davis/NASA

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Pictures of the Week-North America-Photo Gallery

The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. AP

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An onboard camera points down at the launchpad during liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA Johnson

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NASA’s next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from launch complex 39-B on the unmanned Artemis 1 mission to the moon. REUTERS

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Time for a selfie! The Earth is seen as the flight control team used the cameras on the Orion’s solar wings to do a thorough inspection of the spacecraft. NASA

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The Moon is seen as flight control team used the cameras on the Orion’s solar wings to do a thorough inspection of the spacecraft. NASA

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On flight day six of the Artemis I mission, Orion used its optical navigation camera to snap this black-and-white photo of the Moon. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew. NASA Johnson

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A portion of the far side of the Moon looms large just beyond the Orion spacecraft in this image taken on the sixth day of the Artemis I mission by a camera on the tip of one of Orion s solar arrays. The spacecraft entered the lunar sphere of influence Sunday Nov 20 making the Moon instead of Earth the main gravitational force acting on the spacecraft. NASA Johnson

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On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. NASA Johnson

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Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew. NASA Johnson

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