Artemis 2 Commander Reid Wiseman Teams Up With Astrophotographer for Rare Lunar Mission Photos

When NASA's Artemis 2 mission launched on April 1, 2026, it sent four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon — humanity's first crewed visit to our celestial neighbour since 1972. Before liftoff, astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy made a bold move: he slid into the social media direct messages of mission commander Reid Wiseman with an unusual collaboration request. Wiseman said yes immediately, and the resulting images are unlike anything seen before.

A Far Side Unlike Any Other

According to the news, unlike the near side, the far side of the Moon has geological differences in the sense that it is made up of old, highland areas with anorthosites – light and low-density rock – dominating, with no dark-coloured maria present like those on the near side. One of the 10 scientific missions conducted on the flyby was studying colour changes, because they would give clues about the minerals on the Moon's surface. Colour changes were observed throughout the mission, and they would help in making scientific discoveries about the Moon, including the age of its features.

Turning Raw Data Into a Mineral Map

McCarthy's technique — called image stacking — layers dozens of photos to cancel out random noise and amplify faint colour signals. The colours have scientific significance because basalts rich in titanium will be shown in blue, while older materials containing iron are shown in brown and red tones. Since the pictures were taken above Earth's atmosphere, McCarthy did not need 150 to 200 pictures; instead, 10 to 15 pictures were enough to get very clean data. To date, more than 12,000 images have been provided by NASA after splashdown, and McCarthy claims that he has yet to exhaust his data.