What Kind of Photos Will the Artemis II Astronauts Take? And Who Will Take Them?

Photography is of vital importance to NASA. The space agency provides all astronauts with plenty of Nikon Z9s and an array of different lenses, encouraging them to capture what they see.

PetaPixel regularly covers what the astronauts onboard the International Space Station snap out of the windows. But soon astronauts on a very different mission will blast into space and be afforded very different views.

Artemis II, scheduled for no earlier than Sunday, will make history when the Orion spacecraft circles the Moon and the crew travels further away from Earth than anyone has before. The mission is a crucial step toward Artemis III, when humans will set foot on the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. The ultimate goal of Artemis, after establishing a base on the Moon, is to send humans to Mars.

“We will be taking pictures and making observations and recording descriptions of what we’re seeing on the Moon,” Artemis II crew member Victor Glover told 60 Minutes this week.

But who among the four-person crew will be most adept at taking pictures? Artemis II will break ground: Glover will become the first person of color to leave low-Earth orbit, while Christina Koch will become the first woman to do so.

Koch (pronounced Cook) is also the member of the crew who appears most likely to excel at taking pictures. During her 328 days in space between 2019 and 2020, the longest continuous time a woman has ever spent there, she took a number of spectacular photos, some of which she has shared on her Instagram page.

While orbiting Earth, Koch combined photography with another hobby of hers: surfing. From her vantage point 250 miles above, Koch looked for famous surf spots, including Raglan in New Zealand.

Koch even visited one of the surf spots she photographed from space in a “full-circle” moment.

Unsurprisingly, Koch has cited legendary astronaut photographer Don Pettit as inspiration when sharing a star trail photo. She also shared a behind-the-scenes video of how the photo came together.

Koch shared a photo taken during the Artemis I mission, a test mission for Artemis II. It gives a tantalizing clue of the kind of photo she and her crewmates might be able to capture.

Today, there was a “wet dress rehearsal” for Artemis II as cryogenic liquid propellant was put into the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. The crew will blast off no earlier than Sunday; the exact date will be partially determined by the wet dress rehearsal as engineers and mission managers assess the performance and readiness of the booster.