OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Four astronauts aboard NASA's Artemis II test flight around the Moon are returning to Earth after conducting a historic lunar fly-by and witnessing a total solar eclipse from their spacecraft.
U.S. astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, made history at 1:56 p.m. ET on Monday, when they reached 248,655 miles from Earth, surpassing the farthest distance ever traveled by humans, a record previously set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
The Artemis II mission wrapped up a historic seven-hour lunar flyby, marking humanity's first return to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and capturing images of the lunar far side.
The four-member crew is now more than halfway through their mission and is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07 p.m. ET on Friday, NASA said.
During a planned 40-minute loss of signal as Orion passed behind the Moon, the spacecraft and its crew made their closest approach at 7 p.m., flying at about 4,067 miles above the surface. Two minutes later, the crew reached the mission's maximum distance from Earth at 252,756 miles, setting a new record for human spaceflight.
As they flew over the Moon's far side, the crew photographed and described terrain features including impact craters, ancient lava flows, and surface cracks and ridges formed as the Moon slowly evolved over time. They also noted differences in color, brightness and texture, which provide clues that help scientists understand the composition and history of the lunar surface. The crew witnessed an 'Earthset' - the moment Earth dropped below the lunar horizon - as Orion traveled behind the Moon and an 'Earthrise' as the spacecraft emerged from the opposite edge of the Moon.
As the lunar observation period ended, the crew witnessed a nearly hour-long solar eclipse as the spacecraft, the Moon and the Sun aligned. With a view of a mostly darkened Moon, the crew analyzed the solar corona - the Sun's outermost atmosphere - as it appeared around the Moon's edge.
During the eclipse, the crew had an opportunity to look for some rarely seen phenomena that are only visible on an unlit portion of the Moon. They reported six light flashes created by meteoroids impacting the lunar surface while traveling many thousands of miles per hour.
Scientists already are looking forward to the images, along with the many others taken during the flyby. After the lunar data is downlinked from the spacecraft overnight, scientists will look at images, audio, and other data to determine better times and locations of the flashes and seek input from amateurs who were observing the Moon at the same time.
After the lunar observation period concluded, the Artemis II crew was congratulated by President Donald Trump in a live conversation that aired as part of NASA's continuing live coverage of the mission. They also spoke with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and answered questions from social media.
The U.S. space agency said the crew will discuss their observations with the lunar science team on Tuesday in a conversation that will be broadcast live.
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