The Artemis II crew saw parts of the moon never seen before. Here's what they said

Space The Artemis II crew saw parts of the moon never seen before. Here's what they said April 7, 20265:20 PM ET By  Ava Berger The moon, seen here backlit by the sun during a solar eclipse on Monday, is photographed by one of the cameras on the Orion spacecraft's solar array wings NASA hide caption toggle caption NASA The four-person crew of NASA's Artemis II mission saw parts of the moon no human has ever seen before on Monday and described their findings in intricate detail to scientists on Earth. Monday's lunar flyby — where the astronauts circled the moon — marked the farthest humans have ever traveled into space. At 1:57 p.m. Monday, the astronauts surpassed the Apollo 13 mission's distance record of 248,655 miles. Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist and a member of the Canadian Space Agency, honored the efforts of earlier space explorers as the crew broke the record and implored future generations to carry on their mission. Sponsor Message "We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear," Hansen said on Monday. "But we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived." While NASA does have photos of the moon from satellites such as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, experts told NPR that the ability for humans to observe parts of the moon for the first time — and relay details in their own words — is vital to lunar understanding. The Picture Show Photos: NASA releases first images from moon flyby On Monday, the astronauts described the moon's topography and meteoroids hitting the far side of the moon, allowing some people to hear a human observing the moon from space for the first time ever. "It's really important for the astronauts to have an opportunity to make observations with the human eye and to describe them in a human voice with the wonder of the human heart," said David Kring, a pla...