Artemis II astronauts approach 100,000 miles from Earth on voyage to the moon

Moon-bound astronauts said a view of the entire Earth, complete with northern lights, was ‘the most spectacular moment’The four Artemis astronauts have passed the halfway point between Earth and the Moon on the way to their planned lunar flyby, Nasa said on Friday evening.“We’re halfway there,” Nasa posted on social media.The US space agency’s online dashboard showed that the Orion spacecraft carrying the astronauts is now more than 136,080 miles (219,000km) from Earth.Nasa released the crew’s first downlinked images on Friday, just one-and-a-half days into the first astronaut moonshot in more than half a century.Nasa screengrab shows astronaut Christina Koch (R) and and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover working inside the Orion spacecraft as they pass the halfway point between Earth and the Moon. Photograph: NASA/AFP/Getty ImagesThe first photo taken by commander Reid Wiseman showed a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsule’s windows. The second showed the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling white tendrils of clouds. A green aurora even glows, according to Nasa.“It’s great to think that with the exception of our four friends, all of us are represented in this image,” said Nasa’s Lakiesha Hawkins, an exploration systems leader. She added the mission was going well.Wiseman and his crew should reach their destination on Monday.This image, taken from the Orion capsule, shows the divide between night and day, known as the terminator, cutting across Earth. Photograph: Nasa/UPI/ShutterstockThe three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the Moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping. They fired Orion’s main engine on Thursday night that set them on their course.After mission control shifted the position of their capsule, the entire Earth – complete with northern lights – filled their windows.“It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks,” Wiseman said in a TV interview.They are the first lunar travellers since Apollo 17 in 1972.'You look beautiful': Artemis II crew makes contact from space – videoOrion will travel about 4,000 miles (6,400km) beyond the Moon before turning back, providing unprecedented and illuminated views of the lunar far side.If all proceeds smoothly, the astronauts will set a record by venturing further from Earth than any human before – more than 250,000 miles.The mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return to the Moon, with the aim of establishing a permanent base that will offer a platform for further exploration.On Thursday, after what Nasa described as a “flawless” engine firing that lasted just under six minutes, the astronauts said they had been glued to the windows of the capsule as they left Earth.Artemis astronaut Christina Koch said: “There’s nothing that prepares you for the breathtaking aspect of seeing your home planet both lit up bright as day, and also the Moon glow on it at night with the beautiful beam of the sunset.”Now that the astronauts are Moon-bound, there is no turning back: they are on a “free return” trajectory, which uses the Moon’s gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth.1:27