How a Navy sailor snapped an iconic Artemis II astronaut picture

The Navy photographer who snapped a defining picture of the Artemis II astronaut crew’s return to Earth swears he wasn’t making an attempt to create an iconic American picture. In truth, he barely even recollects taking it.

“To be honest, I don’t even remember taking the photo,” Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class August Clawson informed Task & Purpose. As two Navy helicopters retrieved the Artemis crew from their Pacific Ocean splashdown on April 10, Clawson was taking pictures on the deck of the USS John P. Murtha restoration ship, simply because the solar started to set. “I kind of remember thinking about the sun, trying to snap a bunch of photos as quick as possible. I didn’t really realize I got that photo until I sat down, like, 30 minutes later and started processing the imagery, and I saw that photo, and I was like, ‘No way I got that.’”

The picture Clawson “got” is of astronaut Christina Koch in a moment of unreadable reflection, or maybe simply exhaustion, within the very ultimate moments of her journey as the primary lady to journey to the moon. Sitting within the open cabin door of a Navy MH-60, Koch’s brilliant orange NASA spacesuit clashes with the cruel grays of the army helicopter, however nearly completely matches the orange glow of a late-day solar over her shoulder, shining by means of the helicopter’s window.

The Navy rapidly launched a flood of photos and videos of the recovery, together with many by Clawson, two of Koch amongst them.

By the following morning, Clawson stated, his cellphone was stuffed with messages from mates who’d seen the photographs on TV and information experiences, or quickly spreading throughout TikTookay, Instagram and different social feeds.

“I was hoping for the April timeframe because the windows for the recovery were at Golden Hour,” Clawson stated. Golden Hour is shorthand amongst photographers for the ultimate hour earlier than sundown. “Right before the sun hits the horizon, everything’s bathed in golden light. It’s definitely the best time to take photos. All the colors pop, and everything seems a little softer, less harsh.”

An April 1 launch would imply a late-day April 10 splashdown off the coast of San Diego. Dive groups from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 1, staged aboard the Murtha, would rush to their capsule earlier than two MH-60s flew them again to the ship. Clawson, the EOD group’s mass communications specialist, could be ready.

It was a second Clawson had been getting ready for since he was a child in Memphis, Tennessee.

“When I moved into high school, portraits and skateboard photography were really my passion,” he stated. “I wanted to keep doing photography right out of high school, so I explored my options in the military, and I found this job in the Navy — mass communication specialist — and it’s the only job I wanted.”

Clawson labored for 3 years aboard the USS George Washington plane service, taking footage amid the chaos of a Navy flight deck, typically in brilliant daylight, typically in the course of the night time.

“I think nighttime was where I shined,” he stated. “It’s pretty hard to capture good images of the flight deck at night. I had three years on the carrier to kind of figure it out. By my last year there, I feel like I was putting out some pretty cool images. Kind of looked like, you know, like a spaceship, like, kind of ‘Star Wars’ vibes with all the different colors.”

While Clawson took a whole lot of photographs of roaring planes and crew members dashing throughout open decks, practically all his collections additionally embrace a minimum of just a few placing, upclose portraits of a sailor’s face — an F/A-18 pilot buckling his helmet, a Seabee welder under his mask, an aircraft handler through her googles — unposed, unsmiling, surprising. 

Each is an early echo of Clawson’s Koch image.

“I’d always focus on portraits,” Clawson stated. “Sometimes it can be difficult because I’m shooting a lot of uncontrolled action. So when I see the opportunity to do that, I definitely jump in and try to grab a portrait that kind of shows who the person is. I don’t necessarily like taking photos of people smiling. I just really want to show who the person is. And I feel like, you best see that when they’re kind of just making the face that they want to make, how their face normally is, without them distorting it.”

In 2024, Clawson was named the “Communicator of the Year” for the entire Department of Defense, totally on the power of his work on the George Washington.

In 2025, he reported to EOD Group 1, which was already deep in planning for the Artemis mission.

As the helicopters landed on the Murtha, Clawson was unfazed by the noise and tight quarters of a flight deck. With the solar simply above the horizon, he moved nearer because the crews opened the cabin doorways. But not too shut. 

“I didn’t want to shove a camera into their faces,” he stated. “I was trying to be kind of respectful and not intrusive, because they did just get back from space.”

 

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