NASA's Artemis I has already captured stunning footage of Earth

Now that's a view.
 By 
Sam Haysom
 on 
Earth as viewed from the Orion spacecraft.
Earth as viewed from NASA's Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, NASA's Artemis I mission successfully launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center — and as you can probably imagine, the views were pretty spectacular.

The Artemis I mission got off to a rocky start, with failed launches and further delays on the day preceding the final, successful launch a little before 2 a.m. ET (our live blog has a full breakdown of events as they unfolded).

Now, with the Orion spacecraft beginning its mission to the moon, NASA shared the following footage on Twitter on Wednesday.

"As @NASA_Orion begins the #Artemis I mission to the Moon, the spacecraft captured these stunning views of our home planet," wrote NASA.

Orion, while currently without a crew, is essentially paving the way for a deep space flight that will one day carry astronauts. The plan for the current mission is that Orion will travel around the moon, heading a quarter of a million miles away from Earth before swinging back to return home on Dec. 11.

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You can read a full breakdown of how the launch unfolded here. NASA will also be sharing more footage and images as the mission progresses, so stay tuned.

Update Nov. 16 at 11:45 a.m. ET: NASA has shared livestreamed footage of Earth from the Orion spacecraft, like the image just below.

Earth viewed for the Orion spacecraft
Earth captured from a camera aboard the Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA

Topics NASA

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Sam Haysom

Sam Haysom is the Deputy UK Editor for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.

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