Artemis II crew reveal 'sci-fi' sighting in Moon's shadow - 'No words to describe what we're looking at!'
The crew of Nasa's Artemis II mission have revealed exactly what they saw on their journey around the dark side of the Moon.Speaking to mission control in Houston after a 40-minute blackout, the four astronauts shed light on what it was like to be the first humans to witness the mysterious far side with their own eyes.The crew also experienced a solar eclipse - when the Moon blocks out the Sun's light from the spacecraft, plunging it into darkness."This is, we just went sci-fi. It just looks unreal," pilot Victor Glover said.He added that what the four astronauts were seeing was "truly hard to describe"."I know this observation won't be of any scientific value but I'm really glad we launched on April 1, because humans have probably not evolved to see what we are seeing," he said."The Earth is so bright out there and the Moon is just hanging in front of us."This black orb out in front of us now, not the blackness but the grey that blends and drifts into the blackness... We can see stars and planets behind it."Commander Reid Wiseman added: "It's just indescribable. No matter how long we look at this, our brains are not processing this image in front of us.Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover fielded questions from Nasa - and Donald Trump - after rounding the Moon | NASA"It is absolutely spectacular, surreal... there's no adjectives, I'm going to need to invent some new ones, there's absolutely no words to describe what we are looking at out this window."Crew had been told to spend 35 minutes watching and recording the eclipse - splitting into two teams to take detailed accounts of their experiences.The "cabin team" supported the "window team" in their observations by using the onboard cameras and sensors.Mission control said the eclipse observation period closed just before 3am BST.The team then began "down-linking" all the images and data they captured over the past seven hours of observation.Donald Trump invited the four astronauts to the White House once they return to Earth | REUTERSAs well as Houston, the crew spoke to Donald Trump in a surprise appearance."Today, you've made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud," the President said."We have a lot of things to be proud of lately, but this is... there's nothing like what you're doing."Mr Trump asked the quartet what it was like when they lost communication with Earth.Mr Glover replied, telling the President he said "a little prayer" before getting back to work to record the dark side of the Moon.The Artemis II crew also experienced a solar eclipse - when the Moon blocks out the Sun's light from the spacecraft, plunging it into darkness | NASAPICTURED: Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman looks out one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows at the Moon | NASAThe President also asked what the most "unforgettable part" of this "really historic" day was.Commander Reid Wiseman replied: "We saw sights that no human has ever seen, not even Apollo, and that was amazing for us."The four were then invited to the White House - where Mr Trump said he would give them a "big salute on behalf of the American people and beyond that".They are now all on their way home to Earth after journeying around the Moon late in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
