Artemis II astronauts channel Apollo 8 with a striking Earthset photo

This combination of pictures shows a NASA handout image, left, showing Earthrise over the Moon made on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968 from Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, as it entered lunar orbit and a NASA handout image showing Earth as it dips beyond the lunar horizon, also known as "Earthset," as seen from the Orion spacecraft on Apr. 6. NASA on Apr. 7 released a historic photograph of Earth dipping below the lunar horizon, more than 57 years after an iconic "Earthrise" image was captured by an Apollo 8 astronaut. Members of the Artemis II crew captured the shot from their Orion capsule during the mission's record-setting lunar flyby, echoing the legendary "Earthrise" photograph taken by U.S. astronaut Bill Anders in December 1968 during the first space mission to carry humans around the Moon. NASA / AFP-Yonhap

HOUSTON — The Artemis II astronauts are now forever intertwined with Apollo 8.

A day after the historic lunar flyaround, NASA on Tuesday released striking new photos taken by the U.S.-Canadian crew.

The four astronauts channeled Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968 with their own: Earthset, showing our planet setting behind the gray, pockmarked moon. Another photo captures the total solar eclipse that occurred when the moon blocked the sun from the crew’s perspective.

The three Americans and one Canadian are now headed home, with a splashdown in the Pacific set for Friday. In the meantime, scientists at Houston's Mission Control are poring over the stream of moon photos beaming down.

Apollo 8's three astronauts became the world's first lunar visitors, orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. Their Earthrise shot became a symbol of the modern-day environmental movement.

Artemis II marks NASA's first return to the moon with astronauts — a critical step toward a lunar landing by another crew in two years.