The first flyby images of the Moon captured by NASA’s Artemis II astronauts during their historic test flight reveal some regions no human has seen, including a rare in-space solar eclipse.

Released on Tuesday, astronauts captured the images on April 6 during the mission’s seven-hour flyby of the lunar far side, showing humanity’s return to the Moon’s vicinity and opening a trove of scientific data.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, have used a fleet of cameras to take thousands of photos. The agency released several images, with more expected in the coming days as the crew members are more than halfway through their journey and now headed home toward Earth.

“Our four Artemis II astronauts – Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy – took humanity on an incredible journey around the Moon and brought back images so exquisite and brimming with science, they will inspire generations to come,” said Dr Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington.

During the lunar flyby, the crew documented impact craters, ancient lava flows and surface fractures that will help scientists study the Moon’s geologic evolution. They monitored colour, brightness and texture differences across the terrain, observed an earth-set and earth-rise and captured solar‑eclipse views of the Sun’s corona.

The crew also reported six meteoroid impact flashes on the darkened lunar surface.

As the Artemis II crew came close to passing behind the Moon and experiencing a planned loss of signal, they captured this image of a crescent Earth setting on the Moon’s limb. The edge of the visible surface of the Moon is called the “lunar limb.”

Seen from afar, it almost looks like a circular arc – except when backlit, as in other images captured by the Artemis II crew. In one of the photos, the dark portion of Earth is experiencing night-time, while Australia and Oceania are in the daylight. In the foreground, the Ohm crater is visible, with terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks.

Scientists already are analysing the downlinked images, audio and data to refine the timing and locations of these events and compare them with observations from amateur astronomers.

The new imagery also will help NASA better understand the Moon’s geology and inform future exploration and science missions that will lay the foundation for an enduring presence on the Moon ahead of future astronaut missions to Mars.

“It was remarkable listening to the crew describe the stunning views during the flyby,” said Jacob Bleacher, NASA’s chief exploration scientist at the agency’s headquarters. “At first, their descriptions didn’t quite match what we were seeing on our screens. Now that higher resolution images are coming down, we can finally experience the moments they were trying to share and truly appreciate the scientific return provided by these images and our other research on this mission.”

NASA is targeting 8:07pm EDT (5:07pm PDT) on Friday, April 10, for the return of Artemis II off the coast of San Diego.

NASA+ live return coverage begins at 6:30pm and will continue until NASA and Department of War personnel safely assist the crew out of Orion and transport them to the USS John P. Murtha.

Briefings, events, and 24/7 mission coverage are streaming on NASA’s YouTube channel and events will each have their own stream closer to their start time. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

As part of Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

• A Tell Media report / Source: NASA Headquarters