•Crescent Earth setting along the Moon’s limb, as seen from the Orion spacecraft, yesterday
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, today released a historic image of Earth dipping below the lunar horizon, more than 57 years after an iconic “Earthrise” image was captured by an Apollo 8 astronaut.
Members of the Artemis II crew captured the image during the mission’s record-setting lunar flyby, while US astronaut Bill Anders took the legendary “Earthrise” during the first space mission to carry humans around the Moon in December 1968.
The development was after US President Donald Trump pressured NASA to get boots on the lunar surface before his second term ends in 2029, reports AFP.
•Artemis II crew members Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, and Victor Glover
But just last week, the White House simultaneously proposed slashing the space agency’s overall budget by 23 percent and significantly curtailing its science program funding.
Today, our correspondent reported that four Artemis astronauts approached a high point of their lunar mission — getting slung around the far side of the Moon.
By most metrics, it’s been a rough year for science in the United States — the Trump administration has slashed funding, halted projects, and devastated workforces.
But then, NASA sent astronauts around the Moon for the first time in half a century, deeper into space than ever before.
