NASA publishes the photo of a sublime Earth sunset, the Artemis astronauts on their return

More than 57 years after the famous image of the Apollo 8 Earth rising, the Artemis II astronauts have immortalized an Earth sunset, as they set course again on Tuesday towards the blue planet.

After a flyby of the Moon full of highlights, the four astronauts of Artemis II - the Americans Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover, as well as the Canadian Jeremy Hansen - began the return journey to Earth.

“We will come back,” said the American Christina Koch, the first woman in history to fly over the Moon, adding: “we will be sources of inspiration, but we will always choose the Earth”.

Glued to the portholes for nearly seven hours, the astronauts benefited from a unique perspective to observe the Moon, higher (6,500 km) than the view of their Apollo predecessors at around a hundred km.

- Enjoy the view -

In a series of photos of rare beauty published by NASA on Tuesday, the blue of the Earth stands out against the vast darkness of space, with in the foreground the desolate horizon of the Moon, which appears in shades ranging from gray to brown.

Among this series, a striking shot of the blue planet sinking behind the Moon, an Earth setting, recalls the legendary photo of Apollo 8, taken on December 24, 1968 by the American Bill Anders during the first flight of the Moon by humans.

“It's a historic day, and I know how busy you'll be, but don't forget to enjoy the view,” Lovell, who died in August 2025, said in a recording played to the crew.

The iconic photo of Apolloâ¯8 is often included in selections of the most memorable historical images and was included in Life magazine's 2003 book "100 Photographs That Changed the World."

The four members of the crew have already made history by becoming the humans who have ventured the furthest into space.

Their new record, 406,771 km from Earth, only exceeds that of the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 by 6,000 km, but it was celebrated by NASA and Donald Trump as proof of the renewal of the American manned space program.

This mission “made all of America incredibly proud,” greeted the American president on Monday evening, who congratulated the astronauts by telephone.

Their return will take place on Friday off the coast of California, where their Orion capsule is due to land.

- "Science fiction" -

Spending 40 minutes behind the Moon, the crew discovered the lunar landscapes with wonder, and provided countless descriptions of the reliefs or even the brown and greenish shadows of the lunar craters and soil.

“We see a very beautiful double crater. It looks like a snowman,” described pilot Victor Glover, the first black astronaut to participate in a lunar mission. "It's really hard to describe. It's incredible."

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