The crew of Artemis II shed light on an "otherworldly" sighting in space as they delivered their second press conference since returning from their 10-day voyage around the Moon.
The four man crew of Nasa's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen were able to witness a number of firsts for humanity as they saw the entire far side of the Moon - and witnessed a solar eclipse from behind it.
At the press conference at Nasa's Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, Mr Wiseman admitted that while he was "not really a religious person", he required the US Navy's chaplain to comprehend his experience.
He said: "When that man walked in - I'd never met him before in my life - but I saw the cross on his collar, and I just broke down in tears. It's very hard to fully grasp what we just went through."
Mr Wiseman added: "When the Sun eclipsed behind the Moon, I turned to Victor and I said: ‘I don’t think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we were looking at right now,' because it was otherworldly."
Unlike solar eclipses on Earth, which last only a few moments, the trajectory of Artemis II allowed for the period of totality - when the Sun is completely covered - to last for just under an hour.
The view was also not affected by atmospheric scattering or distortion allowing for sharper detail to be observed by the astronauts.
A glowing halo of light is seen behind the moon, as seen in pictures taken by the Artemis II crew, with Nasa scientists investigating if this is because of "the corona, zodiacal light, or a combination of the two".
Reid Wiseman revealed the 'otherworldly' sights seen on his mission to the Moon
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Nasa scientists are investigating if the light behind the moon is because of the corona, zodiacal light, or a combination of the two
|NASA
The four also saw their Orion crew capsule surrounded by fire as they re-entered the atmosphere at more than 24,000 miles per hour.
Mr Glover, pilot of Artemis II, said: "I will say it was just a very intense moment, because we had never seen or felt this before. Everything was important, every noise, every mechanism."
There were anxieties over the re-entry, as there are documented design flaws in the spacecraft's heat shield, which had not changed design since the previous Artemis mission.
Mr Glover, observing the fireball, admitted thinking: "Is it supposed to be that big?" as his crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
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Reid Wiseman described the view from the Orion capsule as 'otherworldly'
|NASA
The crew also took the opportunity to name two craters on the moon,
One they decided to name Integrity, giving it the same name as their Orion capsule.
The other, they named Carroll after Mr Wiseman's late wife, who died of cancer in 2020.
Mr Wiseman said it was not his idea but an idea formulated by the rest of the crew.
He told NBC News: "I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d heard in my entire life.
The Artemis II crew wore eclipse glasses to protect their vision as they observed the eclipse during the lunar flyby
|NASA
"She was an amazing human being, and she’s the mother of my two daughters. And what man on this planet deserves a gift like that, to have your crew be so thoughtful and to do something so caring and so deep and so meaningful."
Artemis II's crew spoke of the joy of returning to their families, with Mrs Koch saying she was already thinking about reuniting with her family early in the mission.
Mrs Koch also admitted her difficulties readjusting to Earth, saying she put a shirt in the air and expected it to float as it would have in space.
"Every time I’ve been waking up, or in the first few days, I thought I was floating. I truly thought I was floating, and I had to convince myself I wasn’t," she said.