On Monday evening, April 6, 2026, the four-person crew of Artemis II witnessed something few humans have ever seen: our entire world vanishing behind the lunar horizon.
Known as an "Earthset," the moment was captured through the windows of the Orion spacecraft just minutes before the crew embarked on the most isolated phase of their mission — a 40-minute radio blackout while passing behind the Moon.
The Edge of Two Worlds
In one of the chilling photos, Earth appears in a delicate crescent phase. Sunlight strikes the right side of the planet, illuminating swirling white clouds over the deep blue of the Australia and Oceania regions. The rest of our world is dark in the photo, experiencing nighttime.
IN SPACE - APRIL 06: (EDITOR'S NOTE: This Handout image was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images' editorial policy.) In this handout image provided by NASA, Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)
The detail is so sharp that viewers can see secondary crater chains — indentations formed by material ejected during violent primary impacts — trailing across the Moon's surface like scars.
A View Over Ohm Crater
As the clock ticked toward the 6:44 p.m. EDT blackout, the crew captured a second, even more detailed shot. In this frame, the lunar surface is dominated by the Ohm Crater.
Geologists noted the crater’s "terraced edges" and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks—the result of the lunar surface essentially liquefying and "splashing" upward during the initial impact billions of years ago.
IN SPACE - APRIL 06: (EDITOR'S NOTE: This Handout image was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images' editorial policy.) In this handout image provided by NASA, Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the Moon appears large enough to completely block the Sun, creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth. The corona forms a glowing halo around the dark lunar disk, revealing details of the Sun’s outer atmosphere typically hidden by its brightness. Also visible are stars, typically too faint to see when imaging the Moon, but with the Moon in darkness stars are readily imaged. This unique vantage point provides both a striking visual and a valuable opportunity for astronauts to document and describe the corona during humanity’s return to deep space. The faint glow of the nearside of the Moon is visible in this image, having been illuminated by light reflected off the Earth. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)
The Silence of Deep Space
Three minutes after these photos were taken, the Integrity capsule slipped behind the Moon’s bulk, severing all contact with NASA’s Deep Space Network. For 40 minutes, the crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — were the most isolated humans in history, watching the total eclipse of the sun fading behind the moon, the Earth nowhere to be seen.
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