Since leaving Earth on January 15, NASA's Blue Ghost lander has been sending back some stunning images of space.
Now, the autonomous lander has captured a truly jaw-dropping view as it records a unique close-up of the moon.
In an incredible video, you can see the distant Earth rising and setting behind the curve of the lunar surface.
Taken on February 18, the timelapse reveals the stunning view from the Blue Ghost lander as it completed its second orbit, from about 75 miles (120 km) away.
Having now circumnavigated the moon three times, the lander's operator, US private firm Firefly Aerospace, is making final preparations before touchdown on March 2.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Firefly Aerospace wrote: 'Earth rise, Earth set, repeat!'
Meanwhile, on social media, space fans have been wowed by the incredible glimpse of our lunar satellite, with its incredible patchwork of deep craters.
One commenter wrote: 'What a cool time to be alive! The Moon up close once again!'
The robotic Blue Ghost lunar lander was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
On board are 10 NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
These include instruments to record data on the lunar surface and experimental GPS tracking systems.
Over a weeks-long journey, the lander travelled roughly 238,855 miles (384,400 km) and entered lunar orbit on February 13 where it was scheduled to wait for 16 days.
On its way, Blue Ghost captured incredible images of Earth as it shrunk into a small pale dot in the distance.
While orbiting the moon, Blue Ghost has been completing a series of engine burns to bring it into a tighter orbit.
On February 18, the lander completed a three-minute and 18-second burn to push itself into a significantly lower elliptical orbit around the moon.
Shortly after lowering itself down, Blue Ghost recorded a flyby of the far side of the moon (usually hidden from Earth) at an altitude of just 75 miles (120km).
Although it is commonly referred to as the 'dark side' of the moon because it always faces away from Earth, this side receives just as much light from the sun as the near side.
On social media, many commenters rushed to share their admiration and amazement.
'Good luck! One small landing, one giant leap', one commenter wrote on X.
Another wrote: 'Well this is the coolest thing I've seen in weeks', while one impressed commenter chimed in: 'This is my favorite video now'.
Of course, not everyone online was so impressed and some conspiratorially-minded commenters even questioned whether the footage was real.
One conspiracy theorist wrote: 'What a joke. gotta be a serious sheep to think this is real footage. hilarious'.
'It looks like cheap plastic moon', wrote one commenter.
Another claimed: 'If you believe this, you are not thinking critically. Good luck.'
Blue Ghost completed its third and final lunar orbit as of Monday and is making preparations for its last manoeuvres.
Next, the lander will perform a 16-second burn to enter a very low and nearly circular orbit around the moon.
Finally, once the spacecraft falls to 62 miles (100km) above the surface, it will fire its engines for 19 seconds to drop its path down to the landing site.
Blue Ghost is expected to land on the eastern edge of the moon's Earth-facing side near an ancient volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within the 300-mile-wide (483 km) basin of the Mare Crisium, or 'Sea of Crises'.
From there, it will use its scientific payloads to gather information about the moon.
This includes making use of a lunar sunset to study a phenomenon called 'dust levitation' in which dust appears to float above the surface.
This was first sketched by Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan during NASA's last mission to the moon over 50 years ago.
Blue Ghost will then operate for 14 Earth days until the near side of the moon is cast into shadow, plunging the lander into the freezing lunar night.
With temperatures as low as -130°C (-208°F) and no light to charge its batteries, this is expected to break the lander's electronics and put an end to the mission.
NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon in 2026 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2026 - including the first woman and the next man.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, was the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars.
The uncrewed flight, which successfully launched in November last year, travelled more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the moon and back to Earth. It splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in December 2022, 25-and-a-half days after launch.
Orion stayed in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station, while it also returned home faster and hotter than ever before.
It will now be followed by Artemis II, a manned mission which is scheduled for launch next year.
The crew will fly around the moon and back to prepare for Artemis III, which NASA is targeting as the mission to return humans to the lunar surface.
Eventually NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis programme.
The space agency hopes this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.
Who is Victor Glover? The man set to become NASA's first black astronaut to orbit the moon
NASA is set to send the first-ever black astronaut to the moon.
Victor Glover, 46, was selected to take part in the space agency's Artemis II mission — the US' first lunar mission in a half-century.
The Pomona, California, native will be the first person of color to travel into deep space, hundreds of thousands of miles beyond the low-Earth orbiting International Space Station (ISS).
NASA officials say the diverse crew assignments signify the cultural shifts that have taken place since the original Apollo missions, which ended in 1972, at a time when white men dominated space exploration.
Glover was also the first black man to ever live on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2020 and is among 15 African Americans to be selected as an astronaut.
In his esteemed career since being selected as an astronaut in 2013, Mr Glover has logged over 3,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.
Artemis II - which will launch in November 2024 - will see the four-man crew orbit the moon in the Orion spacecraft but not land.
Their goal is to test new technology, including heat shields that protects Orion as it travels 24,500 mph in 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit on its way back.
If successful, NASA plans to launch an expedition to land on the moon titled Artemis III. Another success would spell out a trip to Mars for NASA.
‘I wanna thank God for this Amazing opportunity,’ Mr Glover said during a new conference Monday.
‘This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate. It’s so much more than the four names that have been announced. We need to celebrate this moment in human history.
'Artermis II is more than a mission to the Moon and back. It’s more than a mission that has to happen before we send people to the surface of the moon. It is the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars.
‘This crew will never forget that.’
Mr Glover was born in 1976 in Pomona, around 30 miles east of Los Angeles.
The city is far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, known for its high poverty rate and relatively high crime.
He said his parents and teachers served as mentors as him growing up.
'Early on in life it had to be my parents; they encouraged me and challenged me and held me to high standards. Outside of home, I had teachers that did the same,' he told USA Today in 2017.
'They all challenged me, and they encouraged me.'
Mr Glover continued that his teachers and parents urged him to go the engineering school and eventually become a test pilot — leading to him becoming an astronaut.
He graduated from Southern California's Ontario High School in 1994, and went on to attend California Polytechnic State University, before completing his graduate education at Air University and the US Naval Academy.
'I’m the first person in my family to graduate from college, and being at graduation with my mom and my dad and my stepdad and my little brothers and my grandparents,' he said to USA Today.
'That was unreal, that was cool and it was special for me.'
In 1999 he was commissioned as part of the US Navy. After completing flight training in Corpus Christy, Texas, he was 'given his wings' and awarded the title of pilot in 2001.
He then moved to San Diego to learn to fly the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, known as one of the Navy's more versatile aircraft.
After spending the next two years training in Florida and Virginia, he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 for six months.
Mr Glover was working in the office of the late Sen John McCain as a legislative fellow when he was selected by NASA to become an astronaut in 2013.
NASA only selects a handful of the thousands of people that apply to be a member of the nation's astronaut corps each year. Only 15 black astronauts have ever been selected out of 348.
A vast majority of the 41 current astronauts have a military background, like Mr Glover.
He completed his astronaut training in 2015. Three years later, he was selected to be a part of the first ever operational flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon, a reusable aircraft designed by the firm Elon Musk found in 2002.
As part of that mission, he would live on the ISS from November 17, 2020 to May 2, 2021.
The nearly six-month-long stay on the station makes him the first black astronaut to inhabit it.
Jeanette Epps, 52, who was selected to be an astronaut in 2009 is set to become the second African American, and first black woman, to live on the ISS after the launch of Boeing Starliner-1 in 2024 or later.
In 2020, Mr Glover said it was an honor to be the first black person selected to the ISS.
'It is something to be celebrated once we accomplish it, and I am honored to be in this position and to be a part of this great and experienced crew,' he said during a news conference.
'I look forward to getting up there and doing my best to make sure, you know, we are worthy of all the work that's been put into setting us up for this mission.'
In an interview with The Christian Chronicle later that year, he said there were qualified black astronauts that should have earned the honor before him.
'I've had some amazing colleagues before me that really could have done it, and there are some amazing folks that will go behind me,' he said.
'I wish it would have already been done, but I try not to draw too much attention to it.'
Who is Christina Koch? The first female NASA astronaut set to orbit the moon
Christina Koch is set to become the first woman to go around the moon when NASA's Artemis II mission takes off next year.
The Grand Rapids, Michigan native, 44, is already the record-holder for the longest amount of time a woman has spent in space, 328 days, and for taking part in the first all-female spacewalk in 2019.
Selected to become an astronaut in 2013, Ms Koch said she has not followed a 'checklist' in order to become an astronaut — but instead chased her passions whether this be rock climbing, sailing or even learning to surf in her 40s.
She said in 2020: 'I really don't remember a time when I didn't want to be an astronaut.
'For me, I learned that if I was going to be an astronaut, it was because my passions had turned me into someone that could contribute the most as someone contributing to human space flight.'
While she's exploring space, her husband Robert will be left taking care of housework and the couple's puppy, LBD. It is not believed that they have children.
'Am I excited? Absolutely!' she said at a news conference at the crew's announcement Monday.
‘The one thing I'm most excited about is that we will carry your excitement,your aspirations, your dreams, on this mission.’
She also said: ‘We are going to launch from Kennedy space center, we are going to here the words “go for launch” on top of the most powerful rocket NASA’s ever made.’
NASA has sent a total of 355 people to space so far, of which some 55 have been women — or 15 percent. It has also sent 24 people to orbit the moon and 12 to walk on the lunar surface who were all men.
Russian Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to ever leave the earth's atmosphere — setting off in 1937. American women did not get sent to space until 1983.
Ms Koch, however, will make history on the Artemis II mission when she completes her long-awaited trip around the moon.
She revealed her love of space in a video when she was announced as a member of the Artemis I team in 2020.
The astronaut said: 'I am someone who has loved exploration on the frontier since I was little.
'I used to be inspired by the night sky and throughout my career, it's been this balance between engineering for space science missions and doing science in really remote places all over the world.
'I loved things that made me feel small, things that made me ponder the size of the universe, my place in it and everything that was out there to explore.'
She added: 'I didn't necessarily live my life following check boxes of how you could become an astronaut.
'But I followed those passions and one day I looked at what I had become and the skills I had gathered and I asked "could I sit across from a table and present myself as someone who could do this well?". And I thought, I'm going to give this a shot.'
She went to North Carolina State University in Raleigh to get a bachelor's and a master's in Electrical Engineering.
She then became an Electrical Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before becoming a research associate for the United States Antarctic Program — living an entire year in the Arctic.
Ms Koch was one of eight selected as part of NASA's 21st class of astronauts in 2013. After two years of training, she became a full-fledged astronaut.
Her first space flight came in 2019 when she was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to work as a flight engineer.
She stayed up there for 328 days, taking the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. The previous record holder, Peggy Whitson, was in space for 288 days.
While in space she also took the record for the first all-women space walk — when an astronaut gets out of a vehicle while in space — with Jessica Meir.
The pair spent seven hours and 17 minutes on the side of the ISS as they worked to replace a power controller. The walk also included a brief call with President Trump.
Upon her return to Earth in 2020, Ms Koch said she felt 'like a baby' who was two weeks old and working hard to hold up its head.
Back on Earth, she lives in Galveston, Texas, just outside of the Houston area.
Among her interests are backpacking, running, yoga, photography and travel.
Now she will be a part of a groundbreaking mission in NASA's goal towards putting a man on Mars.
The Artemis II mission marks NASA's first trip to the moon in half a century. It says it will be performed to help test kit in preparation for getting humans onto Mars.
The agency sent an empty Orion capsule around the moon last year before it returned to Earth in a long-awaited dress rehearsal.
If this latest mission goes well, then another flight to land people on the moon will be sent in 2025 — as part of tests ahead of getting people onto Mars.
