For 3.8 billion years, the breathtaking view of the Orientale basin has lain hidden towards the far side of the moon.
Thought to have been formed after a 40-mile-wide asteroid collided with the Moon, sending molten rock miles into space, the 600-mile crater has until this weekend only been photographed by robot imagers.
But now, the four astronauts on Nasa’s Artemis II mission have become the first humans to see the geological marvel with their own eyes.
Huh? Didn’t Michael Collins circuit the moon and see it then?
I don’t know. But I suspect that it might be due to the fact that Apollo rbited the moon way lower, so their view was limited. But it would be great if someone could confirm it or provide a better explanation.
The first 2(?) Apollo missions had a similar orbit to Artemis - quite far - as they were also a test of all the systems/processes.
