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Watch: Artemis 1 Orion craft approaches cratered lunar surface in stunning flyby

Craters seen from telescopes on Earth were in full view as the spacecraft flew by our moon.
NASA-Moonshot
Posted at 8:10 PM, Dec 06, 2022
and last updated 2022-12-07 11:57:40-05

NASA's Orion spacecraft sent new stunning video back to Earth during a close flyby of the moon during the Artemis 1 mission.

Two very large lunar craters that are miles wide can be seen in the video.

While NASA didn't reveal the names of the craters in posts to social media sharing the video, Space.comreported that journalist Philippe Henarejos believed one of the large divots seen in the video is the 19 mile wide Kepler crater.

It is located near the landing zone for Apollo 12 in the Ocean of Storms area.

Also in view near the horizon is Gassendi, a nearly 69 mile crater.

Hanarejos said in a tweet that both can be seen from Earth using a small telescope.