NASA’s Artemis II captures first full view of Moon’s Orientale Basin

April 5, 2026

In a historic moment, NASA has shared a stunning image of the Moon taken by astronauts on the Artemis II mission. The photo shows the full view of the Orientale Basin, a part of the Moon that has never been completely seen by humans before.

First Mission to the Moon in Decades

The Artemis II mission includes four astronauts — Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch — traveling aboard the Orion spacecraft.
This is the first human mission toward the Moon since Apollo 17.

The mission is also special because Koch will be the first woman to travel to the Moon, and Glover will be the first Black astronaut to make the journey.

Exploring the Moon’s Far Side

The main goal of Artemis II is to capture images of the Moon’s far side, which is still largely unexplored. The spacecraft will travel over 400,000 kilometers from Earth, breaking previous records for human space travel.

The journey will last about 10 days. The crew will fly around the Moon without landing and return to Earth with a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 10.