NASA's Artemis II astronauts have passed the halfway point on their journey to the Moon, capturing stunning images of Earth from the Orion spacecraft. As of Friday evening, the crew was more than 136,080 miles from Earth, with approximately 122,000 miles remaining before reaching the Moon on Monday.
The space agency released the first downlinked images, including a photo taken by commander Reid Wiseman showing a curved slice of Earth through one of the capsule's windows. Another image displays the entire globe with swirling white cloud tendrils over the oceans.
NASA officials reported that the crew is in great spirits and the mission is performing well. Among the tasks carried out was a noise characterisation of the toilet, measuring how loud it is after previous issues were fixed. The astronauts also held family conferences and continued to learn about operating the spacecraft in deep space with crew for the first time.
The 10-day Artemis II mission is testing technologies needed for long-term lunar exploration and future manned voyages to Mars. The crew is on a trajectory that will take them around the Moon and use its gravity for a free return journey to Earth. NASA aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028, before China's planned mission around 2030.
