A New View of the Moon

Orientale Basin & Hertzsprung from the Far Side NASA Artemis II Mission Landscape OrientationAs Earth dipped below the lunar horizon at 6:41 p.m. EDT on April 6, 2026, the Artemis II crew turned their camera toward the Moon itself and captured a perspective unseen by human eyes in over fifty years. The curved limb sweeps across the frame, its surface rendered in extraordinary detail by the low-angle sunlight.Several ancient features stand out. Orientale basin — one of the youngest large impact structures on the Moon — sits at the edge of the visible disk. Nearby, the concentric rings of Hertzsprung Basin are interrupted by Vavilov, a younger crater that punched through the older formation. Lines of small indentations radiating outward are secondary crater chains, debris scattered by the colossal impact that formed Orientale. In the distance, a sliver of Earth clings to the horizon, half in shadow.Credits: NASA (art002e009287)See Also: - A Setting Earth - Artemis II in Eclipse - Artemis II Collection