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“I can’t say enough how much science we’ve already learned,” Kelsey Young, lead scientist for the Artemis II mission, told the astronauts.

“You really brought the Moon closer for us today, and we cannot say thank you enough.”

But even after becoming the furthest humans ever to travel from Earth, their day was not over: the bleary-eyed astronauts remained in good spirits as they took a late-night call from US President Donald Trump.

Unlike the Artemis astronauts and Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman, Trump at age 79 is old enough to remember the Apollo programme.

“You’ve really inspired the entire world,” Trump said, calling them “modern-day pioneers” who have “a lot of courage doing what you’re doing.”

The journey wrapped up late Monday and had plenty of milestones, including when the Artemis II team broke the distance record set by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, which they surpassed by more than 6,000 kilometres when they reached the journey’s furthest distance from Earth 406,771 kilometres.

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen said the moment should “challenge this generation and the next, to make sure this record is not long-lived.”

The Orion capsule will now travel back to Earth in a so-called “free-return trajectory,” a trip that will take about four days.