NASA snaps new images of the Moon during Artemis I mission

(NBC) Thursday, on the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, the Orion spacecraft captured photos of the Moon during its closest approach.

The detailed black and white images were snapped by the Orion spacecraft’s onboard optical navigation camera.

Orion has been capturing images of Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances to test the effectiveness of its optical navigation camera under different lighting conditions as a way to aid spacecraft orientation during future crewed missions.

The capsule will perform a single-engine burn and will remain in lunar orbit for about a week before returning back to earth.

The spacecraft is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast on December 11th.