The Artemis II crew is heading back to Earth after getting a rare, up-close look at the Moon.
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen joined NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch on the mission. They travelled farther from Earth than any humans before them.
During the flyby, the crew spent about five hours observing the Moon using both cameras and their own eyes. They saw parts of the far side that no human had ever seen directly before. One key area was the Orientale basin, an ancient impact site, where they noticed subtle colour differences across the surface.
Experts say the human eye can spot small changes in colour and brightness better than cameras. Seeing the Moon in real time and in 3D also helped the astronauts describe what they saw in detail.
The crew also reported seeing flashes from meteoroids hitting the Moon — something rarely confirmed before. Unlike Earth, the Moon has almost no atmosphere, so space rocks hit its surface and create bright flashes.
Scientists say combining astronaut observations with camera images will help us better understand the Moon.
