NASA called out over ‘bizarre’ Artemis II launch footage that left people assuming the worst

NASA has been called out online over the camera coverage of the historic Artemis II mission launch, which left many space fans seriously disappointed.

Yesterday's launch (1 April) was a pretty monumental deal, given that the last time NASA sent astronauts to the moon was as part of the Apollo 17 mission over half a century ago, back in 1972.

The 322-foot rocket is carrying four crew members: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The Orion spacecraft, which had some toilet issues minutes after take-off, reached orbit ahead of circling the Earth for about 25 hours before catapulting towards the moon with the 10-day mission paving the way for a future lunar landing and also laying the foundation to send a crew to Mars one day.

Given the nature of yesterday's launch, people across the globe were expecting 10/10 camerawork and flawless video feeds, but many have since taken to social media to hit out over the lack of different camera angles, crew footage and an 'entertaining' element.

People have hit out over the camera coverage of the Artemis II moon launch mission yesterday (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

One Reddit user hit out on the 'Artemis II Launch Megathread': "NASA’s production quality was a mess, lacked crew footage, and felt like a step backwards from the Apollo era.

"The NASA stream was very amateurish. Right at the start of the launch, several ground cameras just went black. Then, the zoom on the rocket itself was so shaky it looked like someone holding a camera for the first time or having a seizure. The operator also seemed clueless, unable to decide when or which camera to switch to.

"There was a serious lack of onboard footage during the launch; we only got some tiny snippets toward the end, which was pathetic. Where was the crew? Why weren't they on screen during the liftoff?

"I wanted to see their faces and the physical strain from the G-force, just like we saw during the Apollo missions. After 50+ years, this should have been a historic moment, but instead, it was a disgrace. I’m talking specifically about those final minutes."

A second chimed in: "I hate to say it, but every time the screen would black out or freeze up, I thought something went wrong with the rocket, and they were trying to cut the feed."

"Same, it made me so nervous lol," agreed a third.

Critics called the production quality a total 'mess' (JIM WATSON / Contributor / Getty Images)

Another slammed: "The TV directing felt improvised. Which is totally bizarre, because of all events imaginable, a rocket launch is maybe the one that is the easiest to pre-plan. Shot by shot.

That they missed the booster separation was just mind-blowing, and really showed that the direction was improvised. Unforgivable."

And a final Redditor echoed: "Yeah, the production quality was definitely not great. Why did they switch the cameras and make the footage go black on the launch? All they had to do was just have one camera on the rocket.

"The one biggest gripe I had was the booster separation. They announced that it will be happening shortly and switched the video feed to some random people looking up at the sky. They then switch back to the boosters already separated. I don't want to watch people looking up at the sky. I hope they get it sorted for the main event.

"I'm no specialist, but I assume they could have had more cameras or a constant camera feed from the rocket?"

Tyla has reached out to NASA for comment.

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