NASA released thousands more photos from Artemis II. Here are 9 of the best.

SpaceNASA released thousands more photos from Artemis II. Here are 9 of the best.The more than 12,000 images include up-close shots not previously seen from the moon mission.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00NASA released more than 12,000 new images from the Artemis II mission, including many views and up-close shots not previously seen.NASAShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 5, 2026, 6:11 PM EDTBy Denise ChowNASA over the weekend released thousands more photos from last month’s Artemis II mission around the moon. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The collection of more than 12,000 images includes new views and up-close shots not previously seen from the flight. Among the photos are dramatic perspectives of the moon’s rugged, pockmarked surface, showing its countless craters, along with portraits of Earth winking in the distance during the astronauts’ lunar flyby.Here is a small sampling from the newly released trove of images.NASANASANASAThe Artemis II crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — launched April 1 on a 10-day mission around Earth and the moon. It was NASA’s first moonbound mission in more than 50 years and the first time NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule carried human passengers.NASAThe mission took the astronauts farther from Earth than any humans had traveled before. During their lunar flyby on April 6, Wiseman, Koch, Glover and Hansen swung around the far side of the moon, seeing parts of the surface that had never before been seen by human eyes. The far side is not visible from Earth because it permanently faces away from our planet. During the roughly seven-hour flyby, the astronauts made detailed observations of the jagged topography along the moon’s terminator, the dividing line between its illuminated side and the side cloaked in darkness.NASANASANASAThey also studied craters that fo...