Artemis II astronauts channel Apollo 8 with a shocking photo of Earth

Houston – The Artemis II astronauts are now forever intertwined with Apollo 8.

A day after the historic lunar flyby, NASA on Tuesday released shocking photos taken by the American-Canadian crew.

The four astronauts imitated the famous Apollo 8 Earthrise shot in 1968: Earthset, which shows our planet hiding behind the gray, pockmarked moon. Another photo captures the total solar eclipse that occurred when the moon blocked the sun from the crew’s perspective.

The three Americans and the Canadian are now heading home, with a splashdown in the Pacific scheduled for Friday.

The three Apollo 8 astronauts became the world’s first lunar visitors, orbiting the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968. Their shot of Earthrise became a symbol of the modern environmental movement.