From its spectacular 1 April launch into a clear blue Florida sky, Artemis II has provided the world with a succession of captivating moments, deep-space records, and stunning, never-before-seen imagery from the far side of the moon.

Here are a few of the 10-day mission’s highlights:

Flight day 1 (launch day)

Hundreds of thousands of people packed the beaches and causeways of Florida’s space coast, and millions more watched on TV or online, as the mighty Space Launch System (SLS) rocket of Artemis II lifted off at 6.35pm ET on humanity’s first journey to the moon in almost 54 years.

“It foundational for what we do here at Nasa to inspire,” Jared Isaacman, the space agency’s new administrator, said at the post-launch press conference.

“It should be a component of every one of our missions. We want to inspire and create interest in the next generation to grow up and contribute to this endeavor.”

Flight day 2

After orbiting Earth while the astronauts and flight controllers in Houston established that the spacecraft, now known by its mission handle of Integrity, was functioning properly, a translunar injection burn committed it to the 250,000-mile journey to moon.

Flight day 5

Artemis II entered the moon’s gravitational sphere of influence at 12.37am ET, the first crewed spacecraft to do so since Apollo 17 in December 1972.

Flight day 6

After setting a record for the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth – 252,756 miles – and experiencing a 40-minute communications blackout during which they ate maple cookies supplied by Canadian crewmember Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II’s astronauts embarked on a six-hour observation of the lunar surface.

“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It’s just unbelievable,” Hansen said as Orion began the flyby and made its closest approach at a height of 4,067 miles.

The crew also witnessed an “absolutely stunning” solar eclipse.

Flight day 10 (splashdown)

Other than launch day, the riskiest part of the mission. The crew donned reentry spacesuits and completed final mission closeout tasks, including configuring the capsule’s seats for their 25,000mph descent to the Pacific Ocean.