SAN DIEGO – NASA's Artemis II mission has successfully sent four astronauts sweeping around the far side of the Moon and landed them safely back home. The Orion spacecraft performed admirably and the images the astronauts captured have delighted a whole new generation about the possibilities of space travel.
NASA released stunning images taken from the far side of the Moon during the mission. One of the most spectacular is this photo, which Nasa has called Earthset. It shows the Earth slowly setting behind the Moon's horizon - a mirror image of the famous Earthrise photo taken during the Apollo 8 mission. Another image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. Incredibly, the crew had this view of a total eclipse for nearly 54 minutes as they passed behind the Moon.
From inside Orion the astronauts could see the Earth as a crescent slowly growing smaller behind them as they continued on their 250,000 mile (400,000kilometres) outward journey. Covering that distance from the Earth to the Moon would take them four days. Milestones in the Artemis II mission have been closely watched across the globe. Crowds gathered at a watch party at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego, California - near where the crew splashed down - to observe the making of history.
The world hasn’t heard from the astronauts themselves since they left the Orion capsule - and that might take a while yet. Spending time in space will have been physically grueling for the Artemis II crew, and they've all gone to undergo medical checks. After that, the focus will turn to reuniting them with their families. NASA officials say the four astronauts are due to return to Mission Control in Houston on Saturday, local time. Then there's a White House trip, and even further missions to the Moon, on the cards for them. (BBC)
