The Artemis II mission crew is making history almost by the minute, and as it prepares for its orbit around the moon, the Orion spacecraft has shared some images, including a side of the moon that humans have never seen directly before.
The photo, currently posted on social media but likely to be added to NASA’s multimedia library soon, is of a moon we both know, and yes, one we don’t.
This stunning image arrives just one day after the Artemis II astronauts delivered the first ever iPhone space photos – taken with the selfie camera, no less.
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Make new friends but keep the old ones. A new image captures the Moon’s near side on the right (the side we see from Earth, identifiable by its dark spots) and its far side on the left. The Artemis II crew are the first to see the far side with human eyes. pic.twitter.com/Z8QaZ6J9iAApril 6, 2026
At first glance, you might say, “Yeah, that’s the moon I know.” But even a casual viewer knows something isn’t quite right. As the NASA post explains, the right side of the image faces Earth, and the left side is something no human has seen with their own eyes before.
Earlier Apollo missions were actually too close to the Moon to get this view (158 miles in 1970). The Artemis Crew will fly about 4,070 miles above the surface, giving them a full view of Earth’s lone natural satellite.
I have spent years photographing the moon with various digital cameras, especially a couple of Sony Alphas. First I used the NEX-5 with a 150MM lens. Then I upgraded to my Sony Alpha A6000 and a 200MM lens supported by a 24MP sensor.
Look carefully and see the Moon again
Picture 1 of 2
I wanted to understand how different our view is from what was captured by NASA and the Artemis crew on Monday, April 6.
As you can see in the side-by-side image above that I made in Photoshop 2026, the differences are significant.
On the left is Orion’s photo, which I have only adjusted for brightness. On the right is a photo I took with the Sony Alpha A6000 in 2020.
In my photo on the right, you can see the characteristic dark spots, which from the ground often turn into the “man on the moon”, a surprised face that says, “How did I get here?”
Towards the left of my picture is a point of light, probably a meteor strike. If you use that as a reference point and then look at the Artemis II mission image on the left, you can see that the bright spot is now in the upper right.
Now, if your eye goes to the left on the Artemis II mission image, you’ll quickly realize that you’re seeing things you’ve never seen before,
What strikes me is what looks like a massive crater in the lower left quadrant. It’s a feature we’ve never seen before.
If you have pictures of the moon or have spent a lot of time looking at it through a telescope, I encourage you to compare your views with this picture. It’s amazing and unforgettable.
What’s even crazier is that the Artemis II crew is just getting started. What a great time for astronomy, space and photography fans.
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