HOUSTON, April 7: Little-known lunar craters, a solar eclipse and meteor strikes: the Artemis II astronauts wrapped their lunar flyby and began their journey back to Earth late Monday, bringing with them rich celestial observations scientists hope will open doors.
Their eyes glued to the spacecraft windows for nearly seven hours, the team of four who spent their day breaking records and making history were treated to a view of the Moon unlike any other.
"Humans probably have not evolved to see what we're seeing," said Victor Glover. "It is truly hard to describe. It is amazing."
The crew reported in vivid detail features of the lunar surface and later witnessed a solar eclipse, when the Moon passed in front of the Sun.
NASA names woman, Black astronauts to Artemis II crew in lunar...
They also described flashes of light -- meteor strikes -- on the Moon's surface.
"I can't say enough how much science we've already learned," Kelsey Young, lead scientist for the Artemis II mission, told the astronauts.
"You really brought the Moon closer for us today, and we cannot say thank you enough."
- Trump praises 'modern-day pioneers' -
But even after becoming the furthest humans to ever travel from Earth, their day was not over: the bleary-eyed astronauts remained in good spirits as they took a late-night call from US President Donald Trump.
Unlike the Artemis astronauts and NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, Trump at age 79 is old enough to remember the Apollo days.
And he was, in a word, impressed.
"You've really inspired the entire world," Trump said, calling them "modern-day pioneers" who have "a lot of courage doing what you're doing."
