NASA is marking Earth Day with a new look back at one of the most famous pictures in space history and a fresh image from Artemis II. The agency said the newly released photo shows Earth on April 6 as the crew traveled farther than any humans before them, echoing the Apollo 8 picture that turned a blue planet into an icon.
The Apollo 8 crew rounded the far side of the Moon in 1968 when astronaut Bill Anders snapped Earthrise, the image of Earth peeking above the gray horizon. NASA said the photograph became a symbol of hope in hard times and helped inspire the first Earth Day celebration two years later. Now, with the Artemis II astronauts having captured their own images of home this year, NASA is using the moment to link that legacy to its current work on Earth and the solar system.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency’s Earth science missions continue to provide critical data that strengthen communities, support industries like agriculture and help the nation anticipate and respond to wildfires, droughts, flooding and other natural hazards. He said Earth Day is a reminder of the responsibility to understand the planet. NASA Earth Science Division director Karen St. Germain said the Artemis photos shared with all of humanity the breathtaking beauty of Earth, as it can only be seen from space.
The comparison between Apollo and Artemis also shows how much the view has changed. NASA said imaging technology has taken giant leaps since 1968, when Apollo 7 astronauts snapped a photo of New Orleans during their 120th revolution around the planet and the city was visible about 95 nautical miles below amid the green wetlands and tan sediment of the Mississippi River Delta. NASA said the new generation of spacecraft is doing more than making pictures. In July 2025, NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation launched NISAR, whose L-band and S-band SAR instruments can see through clouds and tree canopies to map changes on the ground. The recently launched PACE satellite has also captured the Mississippi River Delta swirling with marine life.
That is the point of the release today. NASA is not just celebrating a historic image, but tying Earth Day to a broader effort to watch the planet in far greater detail, from the Moon’s edge to radar measurements that can help low-lying cities track land loss from rising seas and subsiding ground. Artemis II’s Earthset is meant to do both: stir the public and feed the science that will shape the next missions.