I post this link only to point out that the first sentence was not constructed very well.
The phrase "took time out" implies that the spacecraft stoped mid-journey and did a 180 to take a photograph. I hope this isn't the case, it'd be a terrible waste of resources. What I think he ment to say is "...took some time during its long journey to Mars..."The European Mars Express took time out from its journey to Mars to turn around and snap a picture of Earth and the Moon.