Four history-making astronauts have had the “indescribable” experience of witnessing a total solar eclipse while hurtling around the moon.

The Artemis II broke the record on Tuesday morning of the furthest distance humans have travelled into space.

Their vessel looped around the far side of the moon during a seven-hour flyby, revealing new views of the hidden lunar surface.

The NASA crew started the journey home on Tuesday afternoon (AEST).

A total solar eclipse greeted the three Americans and one Canadian as the moon temporarily blocked the sun from their perspective.

Pilot Victor Glover said the view was “unreal” and an “impressive sight”.

“The sun has gone behind the moon and the corona is still visible, and it’s bright and creates a halo almost around the entire moon.

Glover said that almost seconds after the sun set behind the moon, they could see earth shine.

“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 said it was “indescribable”.

“No matter how long we look at this, our brains are not processing this image in front of us. 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.”

US President Donald Trump phoned the astronauts following the flyby, asking them what was most unforgettable about the historic day.

Wiseman responded that the crew saw “sights that no human has ever seen, not even Apollo, and that was amazing for us”.

NASA’s Orion capsule reached a maximum distance of 406,771 kilometres from earth before hanging a U-turn behind the moon, breaking the distance record st by Apollo 13 in 1970.

“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed.

He challenged “this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived”.

About two dozen scientists packed a conference room next to mission control at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston to record the lunar ‌phenomena witnessed by the Artemis crew in real time.

Artemis, a successor to the Apollo program, aims to put boot prints on the moon again by 2028, ahead of China’s first landing, and to establish a long-term ‌US lunar presence over the ‌next decade, including a moon base.

The Artemis II crew, riding in their Orion capsule since launching from Florida last week, began their sixth day of spaceflight as they awoke to a pre-recorded message from the late NASA astronaut Jim Lovell, who flew aboard the Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 moon missions.

“Welcome to my old neighbourhood,” said Lovell, who died in 2025 at age 97. “It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view … good luck and godspeed.”

Along the way, the Artemis crew spent some time assigning provisional names to lunar features that previously lacked official designations.

In a radio message to mission control in Houston, Hansen suggested one crater be dubbed Integrity, after ​the name given to the crew’s Orion capsule, and another Carroll, in honour of Wiseman’s late wife.

Wiseman wept as Hansen put in the request to mission control, and all four astronauts embraced in tears.

As Orion hurtled around the moon’s far side, the ‌crew witnessed its surface as it eclipsed what appeared to be a basketball-sized earth in the distant background.

The lunar flyby plunged the crew into darkness and a 40-minute communications blackout as the moon blocked them from NASA’s Deep Space Network.

-with AAP/AP