Artemis astronauts photograph Earth on journey to the Moon

The Moon was looming larger outside NASA’s Orion capsule on Saturday as the crew of Artemis II entered the third day of a mission billed as a crucial step toward putting humans back on the lunar surface later this decade.

NASA said the four-member Artemis crew has now crossed the halfway mark between Earth and the Moon as Orion presses on toward its scheduled lunar flyby.

“We’re halfway there,” the space agency posted on social media.

NASA also published the first images captured from inside Orion, among them a striking full-frame view of Earth showing blue oceans and thick swirls of cloud.

Watch: ‘The moon is definitely getting bigger’, says Artemis astronaut

A burn of just under six minutes sent the spacecraft onto its three-day journey toward Earth’s natural satellite, the first crewed trip of its kind since 1972.

The orange-and-white Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying Orion thundered away from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning a voyage that NASA has spent years preparing to make.

The astronauts – Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen – used their first hours in orbit to run checks and work through minor issues aboard a spacecraft that had never before flown with people on board, including a communications problem and a faulty toilet.

“On our first day in space, we just saw some extraordinary things, the Earth up close, and then by the time we had a bit of a nap and got up, the Earth was just so far away again,” Mr Hansen said.

This view just hits different @Astro_Christina and @astro_reid take a moment to look back at Earth as they continue deep into space toward the Moon. pic.twitter.com/NMDeLj256K

— NASA (@NASA) April 4, 2026

Mr Hansen said the spacecraft’s intricate path toward the Moon gave him the sensation that he was “falling out of the sky”.

“It just felt like we were falling out of the sky back to Earth, and I said to Reid, ‘It feels like we’re gonna hit it,'” Mr Hansen said.

“It’s amazing that we’re actually gonna go around and miss this thing. It was just so close and so to take all of that in was really phenomenal.”

Mission pilot Victor Glover said the crew could already pick out lunar features as Orion continued deeper into space.

“We took some pictures earlier today, and then after putting them on the computer to look closer, we found a feature, you know, the ‘Grand Canyon’ of the Moon, it’s called Orientale Basin, and we were able to see the entire thing,”

“And yes, the Earth is quite small and the Moon is definitely getting bigger.”

The astronauts spent their first hours in space carrying out checks and addressing minor problems

The 10-day Artemis II mission is intended to help clear the path for a Moon landing in 2028.

The flight also carries a string of milestones: the first person of colour, the first woman and the first non-American ever assigned to a lunar mission.

If the trip stays on track, the crew will also set a new distance record for human spaceflight, travelling more than 402,000km from Earth.

Lock in, we’re Moonbound.

Artemis II astronauts are more than halfway to their destination, and preparations for lunar flyby are underway. During their trip around the far side of the Moon, they will capture imagery to share with scientists (and you, too!). pic.twitter.com/T2z4W2XLCt

— NASA (@NASA) April 4, 2026

NASA hails photographs taken by astronauts

At a briefing yesterday, NASA official Lakiesha Hawkins singled out photographs taken by commander Wiseman, describing them as “amazing”.

“We continue to learn all about our spacecraft as we operate it in deep space with crew for the first time,” Ms Hawkins said.

“It’s important to remind ourselves of that as we learn a little bit more day by day,” she added.

The mission is also the first crewed outing for SLS, NASA’s new rocket built for lunar exploration.

NASA says SLS is meant to support repeated US missions to the Moon, with the longer-term aim of building a permanent base that could serve as a launch point for deeper exploration.

The rocket had originally been expected to lift off as early as February after years marked by delays and steep cost overruns.

But a series of setbacks pushed the timetable back again and at one point forced the rocket to return to its hangar for repairs.

Watch: NASA rocket launches from Florida for Artemis II mission

The latest wave of US investment in lunar exploration has often been framed as part of a strategic race with China, which is targeting a human Moon landing by 2030.

The Artemis programme has also faced pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has sought to accelerate the timetable in hopes of seeing astronauts walk on the Moon before his second term ends in early 2029.

Still, the 2028 target date for a landing has prompted scepticism from some experts, partly because Washington is counting heavily on technological progress from private-sector partners.