Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Conversation
The Conversation
Jennifer Levasseur, Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

Artemis II crew used modern photography to tell the visual story of their lunar journey – and update some classic Apollo images

NASA astronaut Christina Koch gazes at Earth on April 2, 2026, taken with an iPhone 17 Pro Max. NASA

At this point in NASA’s human spaceflight story, researchers have a substantial amount of material – documents, artifacts and images – with which to tell the stories of past flights to space. But with NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon now in the books, we’re getting a refreshed look at space.

And the digital photographs transmitted back to Earth – even mid-mission – tell a modern story of the crew’s experience. Entire generations born after Apollo 17’s last close-up looks at the Moon in 1972 may hardly believe the reality of Artemis II in the age of AI-generated deep fakes. But this mission was real, and four humans can tell the tale of their adventure using the photographs safely stored on memory cards now in NASA’s hands.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.