HOUSTON, April 7 -- The four astronauts carrying out Nasa's first lunar flyby in more than half-a-century were sending back detailed observations of the Moon after travelling further from Earth than any human before.

Nasa's mission control in Houston regained contact with the crew after they temporarily lost signal for some 40 minutes, as their spacecraft passed behind Earth's natural satellite.

"It is so great to hear from Earth again," said astronaut Christina Koch, as the crewmembers were once again able to speak with humans on their home planet.

"We will always choose Earth, we will always choose each other."

Earlier the Artemis II team broke the distance record set by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, which they were expected to surpas...