NASA shares a video of Orion's moon On the anniversary of Earthrise

Incredible footage of Earth rising behind the moon has been made available by NASA. On November 28, it was photographed as NASA's newest Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion, orbited our nearest neighbor as part of the Artemis I test mission. When asked in the comments why the two planets appear to sway in the video, NASA responded: "The slight sway is because the camera was in a fixed position on the spacecraft's solar array while the moon and Earth continued to move in their orbits relative to Orion." They also added that the video plays at 900 times the original speed.

On Nov. 28, our Orion spacecraft captured the Earth rising behind the Moon.

The #Artemis I flight test happened around 50 years after the iconic Apollo 17 "Blue Marble" photo of Earth was taken. See the similarities and differences between the two eras: https://t.co/lEllEjjRkv pic.twitter.com/lM1W3BH2mR — NASA (@NASA) December 24, 2022

Before sharing the video, another commenter added some stabilization. On Christmas Day as well, the NASA History Office posted the famous "Earthrise" picture that had been taken exactly 54 years earlier during the 1968 Apollo 8 mission.

"We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth" –Bill Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut

"Earthrise," one of the most powerful photos in @NASA’s history, was taken by Anders #OTD in 1968 as the Apollo 8 crew orbited the Moon. pic.twitter.com/uqORVUyVZf — NASA History Office (@NASAhistory) December 24, 2022

On November 16, the unmanned Artemis I mission began, and on December 11, the Orion splashed down off the California coast. Orion traveled farther from Earth than any astronaut-rated spacecraft has ever done, passing within just 80 miles of the lunar surface before entering an orbit that took it 268,553 miles away. Astronauts will launch on the Orion spacecraft in a few years for the Artemis II mission, which will travel along the same route as the Artemis I flight. After that, NASA will use the Orion in the Artemis III mission, which could launch as early as 2025, in an effort to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. NASA intends to construct a moon base during subsequent missions so that astronauts can spend a lot of time exploring the lunar surface. For the first crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s, it intends to use the moon as a stepping stone in the longer term.