The astronauts even captured dramatic images of the moon’s crater-filled south polar region, where NASA is interested in landing astronauts on future Artemis missions.

The moon’s south pole is pockmarked with craters that are thought to be filled with water ice. But the area is significantly more challenging to navigate than those near the moon’s equator, where the Apollo astronauts touched down. NASA has said observations during the Artemis II mission could be used to pinpoint possible landing sites for missions to come.

Toward the end of their lunar flyby, the astronauts became the first to witness a solar eclipse from space. They made detailed observations over the course of about an hour, as the sun slipped behind the moon and reemerged again on the other side.

During the early stages of the eclipse, the astronauts had to don special glasses (much like the ones worn by people on Earth to view solar eclipses) to protect their eyes until the sun’s light was fully blocked by the moon.