After their tour of the Moon, the Artemis astronauts are getting closer to returning

After taking thousands of photos and providing countless descriptions of the Moon, the four Artemis astronauts confided on their way back to Earth that they had had an experience that would give "chills".

“The human spirit is not made to go through what we have just experienced,” said Commander Reid Wiseman, during a press conference Wednesday evening more than 280,000 km from the ground.

"We have a lot to think about and write in our journals to fully understand what we just experienced," Wiseman said.

The crew which has ventured further into space than any other before it, 406,771 km from Earth, is due to land on Friday evening in the Pacific off the coast of California.

The flight around the Moon is historic. It is the first directed by a woman (Christina Koch), a black astronaut (Victor Glover) and a non-American (Canadian Jeremy Hansen).

Together, the four crew members completed the first tour of the Moon in more than half a century on Monday, and observed on this occasion a setting and rising of the Earth, as well as a solar eclipse.

"We had seen some great simulations done by our lunar science team, but when it actually happened, it blew us all away," pilot Victor Glover said. “It was one of the greatest gifts of this mission.”

A feeling shared by Reid Wiseman: “I get chills and sweaty hands just thinking about it.”

- “Shivers” -

Photographs captured by them and published by NASA give an overview of the spectacle they witnessed, the Moon appearing like a black ball surrounded by a halo of light, all against a backdrop of the vast darkness of space.

Glued to the portholes for nearly seven hours, the four astronauts also witnessed a sublime “Earth sunset” from their unique perspective – further from the Moon than their predecessors. The famous photo of the "Earthrise" of Apollo 8 had at the time turned our vision of the world upside down.

“We saw some simply extraordinary things,” marveled Jeremy Hansen, whose first flight into space it was. From this privileged point of view, the Earth appeared to them as "a fragile planet", almost lost "in the void and the immensity of space", he philosophized.

“What I can tell you is that it was very intense and that these are memories that I will keep for the rest of my life,” exclaimed Victor Glover. “I'm going to think about it and talk about it for the rest of my life, that's for sure,” he continued with a laugh.

Their mission, which began on April 1 with their successful takeoff from Florida, will soon come to an end, they admitted with surprise.

While ensuring that we remain focused until the last minute - returning to the atmosphere on Friday will be a moment