The astronauts were able to catch a full view of the Mare Orientale, a dark, ringed 600-mile wide crater that straddles the near and the far sides of the moon. Human eyes had never seen the whole basin before. (The Apollo missions were timed so that the landings occurred as the crater was hidden in darkness.)

NASA's Apollo 8 mission was the first to orbit the moon. No US spacecraft has returned to the moon since 1972, but that's all about to change.

As part of Nasa's plans to return humans to the Moon, the Artemis programme is one of the most ambitious space projects of all time.

The NASA flight is hours away from parachuting into the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, concluding a journey that sent humans around the moon for the first time since 1972.

Amid what some call a new space race, the historic journey around the moon tested a spacecraft that had never before been flown by crew and collected data for future lunar ventures.

Artemis II builds on prior missions including Artemis II and early Apollo missions, including Apollo 8, which set out for a lunar flyby.

Still marveling over their moon mission, the Artemis II astronauts received a thunderous welcome home Saturday from hundreds who took part in NASA's lunar comeback that set a record for deep space travel.

After making history on their journey around the moon, NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen are coming home.