One of the realities of living in a modern society is paying taxes. And normally, I don’t mind paying taxes because that’s one of the ways I support my community. My local taxes pay for education, social support services, fire protection, and more. And my federal taxes should pay for national parks, healthcare, education, and conservation.

But the current US federal government makes the tax bill hit much more painful this year, after so many cuts to social services, environmental services, science, and education. Especially as we sit in the middle of an unjustified war that was started as a power trip by small-minded people that is going to do so much damage to the economy world wide, not to mention all the innocent lives lost in the conflict.

However, this week we are experiencing an amazing event despite the current leadership, as NASA’s Artemis II mission makes a trip to the moon and back. I’m not much of a space or science geek, but watching the absolute joy of the astronauts and hearing the excitement of mission control on the live stream has been delightful.

And as a photographer, of course my favorite part is seeing the absolutely amazing images they are sending back from space. All images below courtesy of NASA.

Hello, Moon
(April 3, 2026) – The Artemis II crew is en route to the Moon on the second flight day of the mission. This photo shows the Orion spacecraft with the Moon in the distance, as captured by a camera on the tip of one of its solar array wings.
Hello, World
(April 2, 2026) NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman took this picture of Earth from the Orion spacecraft’s window on April 2, 2026, after completing the translunar injection burn.
Earthset
(April 6, 2026) – Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface.
The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region.
In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation.
Artemis II in Eclipse
(April 6, 2026) – Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the Moon appears large enough to completely block the Sun, creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth. The corona forms a glowing halo around the dark lunar disk, revealing details of the Sun’s outer atmosphere typically hidden by its brightness. Also visible are stars, typically too faint to see when imaging the Moon, but with the Moon in darkness stars are readily imaged. This unique vantage point provides both a striking visual and a valuable opportunity for astronauts to document and describe the corona during humanity’s return to deep space. The faint glow of the nearside of the Moon is visible in this image, having been illuminated by light reflected off the Earth.
Orion Snaps a Selfie During External Inspection
(April 3, 2026) – Orion snapped this high-resolution selfie in space with a camera mounted on one of its solar array wings during a routine external inspection of the spacecraft on the second day into the Artemis II mission.

For the remainder of the mission (through Friday, April 10, 2026) a live stream is available on NASA.gov, or linked to other sources such as YouTube. All information about the mission is available on the Artemis II page. And these images plus more are available in the Artemis II Multimedia gallery.

So this year, when I file my tax return, I will tell myself that I’m sending those taxes towards the amazing mission that NASA is undertaking, instead of the horrendous war that our leadership has started.

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