HOUSTON: Four astronauts travelling back to Earth from the far side of the moon on NASA's Artemis II mission spoke of their emotions as they wrapped up the unprecedented flight and prepared to re-enter the atmosphere in a "fireball" during their first press conference from space on Wednesday (Apr 8).

The Artemis II crew, flying in their Orion capsule since launching from Florida last week, are due to splash down off the Southern California coast on Friday evening after reaching the moon earlier this week.

They cruised along a path that took them past the shadowed, lunar far side to become the farthest-flying humans in history.

On the trip back home, they will reach speeds of up to 38,365kph as they enter Earth's atmosphere, a high-risk phase of the mission that will put Orion's heatshield to the test as it gets battered by intense atmospheric friction.

"I've actually been thinking about entry since April 3, 2023, when we got assigned to this mission," said Artemis II mission pilot Victor Glover, when asked how he was feeling about the return.

"There's so many more pic...