Artemis astronauts capture Earth’s brilliant blue beauty as they leave it behind

The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planet’s brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the Moon.

Nasa released the crew’s first downlinked images on Friday, one-and-a-half days into the first astronaut Moon mission in more than half a century.

The first photo taken by commander Reid Wiseman shows a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsule’s windows.

PA Media

The second shows the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling white tendrils of clouds.

As of midmorning on Friday, Mr Wiseman and his crew were 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometres) from Earth and were quickly gaining on the Moon with another 168,000 miles (270,000 kilometres) to go.

PA Media

They should reach their destination on Monday.

The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the Moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping.

PA Media

They fired Orion’s main engine on Thursday night that set them on their course.

They crew the first lunar travellers since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Follow STV News on WhatsApp

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country