The first crew to visit space in nearly half a century did not take long before snapping a new photo of our galactic neighborhood, less than a day after losing communication on the far side of the moon. The resulting shot is breathtaking not only because of what it captures, but in where it captures them. Using one of the Orion “Integrity” capsule’s windows, the crew was able to capture a view of the Milky Way without any of the atmospheric interference or light pollution that defines terrestrial shots, as they returned from their brief visit to the moon. With plenty of bright stars, dark dust lanes, and nebulas scattered throughout, it creates the illusion of being like a map as the exposure of 10 seconds created some blur.
Right in the middle of the photo is the Homunculus Nebula, about 7,500 light years away, shining bright red amidst the starry fields. The shot does not point at the center of the Milky Way, but rather a spiral arm, with nebulas and star clusters scattered throughout. One can even see the Large Magellanic Cloud towards the bottom right, indicating how even from the deep space transit, the Artemis 2 crew members were viewing objects on the galactic level. That sort of scope is just part of the larger value of the mission.
While Artemis 2 might seem like a leisurely ride in space for its crew, it is actually a test flight for all the systems on the spacecraft including life support, navigation, communications and so on that will be crucial when astronauts make journeys outside of Earth’s orbit for the first time since the Apollo Era. Over the course of its 10 day ‘free return mission,’ the crew is making checks as it passes the moon and returns home. The most important of those has been during its pass on the far side, where they will temporarily lose radio communication due to an expected loss of signal range something that may happen with future missions. And it was during this time that they took that shot of the Milky Way, showing both the technical capabilities of the Artemis mission, and the importance of a mission element many take for granted.
According to a report on the construction of Orion’s windows, each one is composed of multiple layers to ensure the durability of it during space flight. As such, a critical mission element of a mission to deep space is not a cosmetic one, as it provides visibility for situational awareness and photography, among other things. And as Artemis missions continue, it will become increasingly relevant as more missions are planned to establish bases on the moon, making it a vital part of the spacecraft itself. It simply shows how even a decade later from the end of the Apollo era, humanity has been able to recover some of that lost visibility, and get some photos of our galactic neighborhood in the process.