During the Artemis 1 mission's closest approach to Earth's natural satellite on Monday, the moon looked spectacular as it flew just 811. miles above the lunar surface.
The images were taken by the onboard optical navigation camera on day 6 of the mission, the same day it performed a crucial engine burn.
The capsule will be inserted into a high altitude around the moon on Friday. The capsule will perform a single engine burn and stay in lunar orbit for about a week before returning to Earth. The craft is going to land in the ocean off the coast of California.
The Artemis 1 moon mission has live updates.
The image is the first of five.
The images were taken by the onboard optical navigation camera on day 6 of the mission, the same day it performed a crucial engine burn.
In order to test the effectiveness of its optical navigation camera under different lighting conditions, NASA has been taking pictures of Earth and the moon at different phases and distances.
The purpose of Artemis 1 is to test the readiness of NASA's giant Space Launch System rocket for future missions.
As a result of being well, the pair could fly astronauts to the vicinity of the moon as early as 2024.
Artemis 3 will land astronauts on the moon around a year or two later.
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