The Artemis 2 astronauts will make their return to Earth on Friday when they splash down in the Pacific Ocean near California.

NASA spokesperson Lauren Low told PolitiFact that one of the reasons Earth appears duller is because the new photo was taken at night, with only moonlight lighting the planet. The 1972 photo was taken in direct sunlight. The two images were also processed differently, she said.

The Artemis II crew will spend the eighth day of their mission conducting tests as the Orion spacecraft makes its way back to Earth.

The Artemis II crew broke a record by flying 252,756 miles from Earth, the furthest humans have ever traveled. Astronauts completed a seven-hour lunar flyby, seeing a side of the moon never before seen by humans.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—are heading back to Earth after completing an historic lunar flyby.

Artemis II left the lunar sphere of influence on Tuesday afternoon – a milestone in the journey which will have the crew falling back home for the rest of its journey to Earth.

NASA's latest photos from the Artemis II mission show Earth in stunning details as the astronauts near a milestone distance of 100,000 miles away.

Part of Artemis II's mission includes collecting samples of ice from the moon that will be compared to Earth’s oceans.