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'You Guys Look Great': Artemis Astronauts Share Earth's Out-of-This-World Views

"That's us!" NASA says in a post showing one of the photos taken on the lunar journey.

Headshot of Gael Cooper
Headshot of Gael Cooper
Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
Earth from space taken by the Artemis II crew.

NASA released this picture taken by the Artemis II crew.

NASA/Screenshot by CNET

It's been more than 50 years since NASA astronaut Harrison Schmitt took the famous Big Blue Marble photograph, showing a breathtaking vision of Earth taken aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the moon. Now, as the four-astronaut crew of the Artemis II mission heads toward the moon, more spectacular images are being released.

Watch this: NASA's Artemis II Breaks Record With Trip Around The Moon

This stunning photo is perhaps the most reminiscent of the Big Blue Marble, showing Earth in all its fragile, lovely glory.

"That's us!" NASA wrote in a post. The post also quoted astronaut Christina Koch as saying of Earth, "You guys look great."

In a reply to questions on the post, NASA wrote, "Two auroras (top right and bottom left) are visible in this image. Zodiacal light (bottom right), is also visible, as well as airglow from Earth's atmosphere."

Another neat photo from the Artemis mission shows the planet neatly bisected, with one side lit up by the sun and the other in darkness.

The Earth half in shadow as taken by the Artemis II crew

This image of the Earth was taken by one of the Artemis II crew out the Orion's window.

Reid Wiseman/NASA

"You look amazing, you look beautiful," Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, said of the views of Earth in a video call with ABC News.

The Orion spacecraft and a half-moon shaped view of Earth in outer space

A view of the Earth from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it orbits above the planet during the Artemis II test flight.

NASA

Another intriguing image shows part of the spacecraft itself. USA Today noted that "the image appears to show the bottom of Orion's service module where its main engine and auxiliary thrusters are housed."

We're tracking the 10-day Artemis II mission with a regularly updated blog.

Keep an eye on NASA's image repository to see the latest photos.