NASA Artemis II Day 9: How the Astronauts Are Gearing Up for Tomorrow's Splashdown

The crew of Artemis II got personal in a press conference late Wednesday night. Speaking to reporters from around the world, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen talked about life on Orion, plans for reentry and that emotional crater name announcement.

"That was the pinnacle moment of the mission for me," Wiseman said. 

Wiseman said that the other members of the crew first approached Wiseman while they were quarantining before the mission with the idea to name a moon crater Carroll, in honor of Wiseman's wife, who died of cancer in 2020. Moments after beating Apollo 13's record for farthest space travel on Monday, the crew did just that.

In addition to being the first crewed mission to the moon in 54 years, the Artemis II crew notched another first -- they're the first crew to have four members, one more than previous moon missions. The spacecraft they're living in, named Orion, is partially to thank for that. It's larger than previous designs. Still, Koch told reporters that they are bumping into each other "100% of the time."

"Everything we do in here is a four-person activity, but it's also really fun," joked Koch.

When asked about plans for Friday's scheduled splashdown, Glover, the crew's pilot, said he's been thinking about reentry since April 3, 2023, when the crew was first confirmed to go on the mission.

"One of the first press conferences, we were asked, 'What are we looking forward to?'" Glover said. "And I said, 'splashdown.' And it's kind of humorous, but it's literal as well, that we have to get back. There's so much data that you've seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us."

You can watch the full press conference in the video below and on NASA's YouTube channel.

Yesterday, the Orion crew had an audio-only call with their astronaut brethren aboard the International Space Station. And as far as astronaut conversations go, this one seemed like any other co-worker chat: It quickly turned to what everyone was eating for lunch.

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman said they were rehydrating some sweet and sour chicken and having some Kona coffee with cream. Then he asked the ISS, "We want to know what you're eating, and we're going to mirror you today."

Among all the cuisines discussed, the consensus among Artemis and ISS astronauts was that the mango salad was good. Take a listen to some of the conversations that NASA shared on its Instagram page.

During the moon flyby on Monday, the Sphere in Las Vegas got a new look as our lunar neighbor. If you check out the Instagram video, you'll see a spherical theater that looks just like the moon, craters and all, as a spacecraft floats around it.

Turns out it was an accurate depiction of the flyby, too.

"What you see on the Exosphere was created in collaboration with NASA, who provided us with a 3D model of the spacecraft and unique soundbites from the April 1st launch to help us design the moon, spacecraft, and flight path to match the real-life version," the Instagram post says.

When not setting records for traveling farther from Earth than any human before, the Artemis II crew has been making excellent videos for social media. The astronauts put together their own spoof of the opening credits for the '80s sitcom Full House. Instead of Full House, they call it Full Capsule.

It's Day 8 of 10 of the Artemis II mission. Today's wake-up song is an '80s classic, Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie. You can check out all the wake-up songs on NASA's brand new playlist on Spotify. 

Here's what's in store for today:

• Ongoing: Orthostatic intolerance garment testing. Space travel wreaks havoc on an astronaut's body, so the crew will be testing new clothing to be worn under their space suits to help maintain blood pressure and circulation.
• 5 p.m. ET: NASA daily news conference, available for anyone to watch on YouTube.
• 9:45 p.m. ET: Press conference with Artemis II crew. This 20-minute conference will also be streamed live on YouTube, and we'll add that link once it is shared.
• 10:55 p.m. ET: Manual piloting demonstration.

The manual piloting demo will have the crew manually guiding the spacecraft to a designated target, evaluating how it handles and the navigation and control systems. 

"By manually piloting the capsule to a tail-to-sun attitude, the crew can manage thermal conditions and power generation," NASA says.

If you've been following along for the past eight days, you probably know that the Artemis II crew starts their day with a specific wake-up song. This fun tradition has spanned from Chappell Roan to CeeLo Green and Glass Animals. Now, you can listen along in this official playlist from NASA on Spotify. 

(No, NASA by Ariana Grande has not been included yet, but I'm hopeful that will change soon.)

Monday's lunar flyby came with a new distance record (the farthest any humans have ever traveled) and a solar eclipse. But the Artemis II crew also took some amazing images, which NASA shared today. Take a look.

After a jar of Nutella floated past the camera inside Orion on Tuesday's Artemis II livestream, space and chocolate-hazelnut spread fans alike were quick to joke. Now, Nutella is getting in on the fun with social media posts reading, "Now enjoyed in space."

Lots of brands have been sharing space-themed posts since Artemis II departed Earth last week. Fellow chocolate company KitKat joked that the company's "missing" candy is in orbit. After NASA released stunning photos taken in space on the astronauts' iPhone 17 Pro Max, tech reviewer Marques Brownlee and others called out that Apple has the perfect opportunity for a new ad for its "Shot on iPhone" campaign. 

And there must be at least one Taylor Swift fan working at NASA, since the company's official X account made a "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" reference in a new reply to a 2010 tweet from Swift's fiancé, Travis Kelce.

But the floating Nutella was truly just a fluke. NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens told Futurism that it wasn't product placement, stating, "NASA does not select crew meals or food in association with brand partnerships."

In a world where everything is commodified and too many internet jokes are manufactured by marketing agencies, it's refreshing to learn that the Artemis II crew just love Nutella so much that they brought it to space to snack on.

You don't need fancy camera gear to nab a great photo, as the astronauts of Artemis II proved this week when NASA shared a slew of stunning shots, many of which were captured on iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Despite being an essential device, smartphones were only recently cleared for use in space. The newest iPhone has Apple's best-yet cameras, including what CNET's Patrick Holland called "a killer selfie camera" in his review. And if you're in space, obviously, you're going to take some selfies.

You can check out all the best photos from Artemis II in CNET's round-up and NASA's official multimedia gallery.

After an eventful Monday, traveling around the moon and observing a lunar eclipse, the Artemis II astronauts woke up to the song Tokyo Drifting by Glass Animals and Denzel Curry. The Orion was 36,286 miles from the moon and 236,022 miles from Earth when the crew started their day.

Here's today's schedule for the Artemis II astronauts (in Eastern Daylight Time):

• 1:23 p.m.: The Orion leaves the lunar sphere of influence.
• 2:40 p.m.: The Artemis II crew will speak with astronauts aboard the International Space Station during a 15-minute ship-to-ship, audio-only call, which can be heard on NASA's YouTube channel.
• 3 p.m.: Debrief with mission control science officers.
• Post-science debrief: Staggered off-duty periods, giving astronauts time to rest and recharge. 
• 4:30 p.m.: NASA mission status briefing. 
• 9:03 p.m.: The Orion's thruster ignites for a push home -- the first of three trajectory correction burns. 

In this selfie from space, the Artemis II crew dons eclipse glasses -- the first use of them at the moon -- to protect their eyes from a solar eclipse as they make their lunar flyby. A solar eclipse is when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, blocking part or all of the sun.

These are the glasses NASA made for the 2023 annual eclipse and the 2024 total eclipse. From the photo, it looks like astronauts wear the same paper, lightweight glasses as the rest of us.

The Artemis and Apollo missions are connected in numerous ways. The Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s successfully landed humans on the moon, and the current Artemis missions are working to return them there. (Artemis and Apollo are twins in Greek mythology, too.)

So on Monday morning, the missions blended in a special way. The Artemis crew was awakened with the song Good Morning by Mandisa and TobyMac, and then a recorded message that Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell recorded for the mission before Lovell's death in 2025.

Here's what the message said:

"Hello, Artemis II! This is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood! When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity's first up-close look at the Moon and got a view of the home planet that inspired and united people around the world. I'm proud to pass that torch on to you — as you swing around the Moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars ... for the benefit of all. It's a historic day, and I know how busy you'll be. But don't forget to enjoy the view. So, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, and all the great teams supporting you — good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth."

Lovell served as command module pilot of Apollo 8 in 1968. That mission orbited the moon 10 times and returned without landing. He also commanded the famed Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which faced a critical failure en route, but looped around the moon and returned safely to Earth.

Lovell died in August at the age of 97, and recorded the message for the Artemis crew sometime before his death.

Tuesday morning, as the Artemis II crew is in the early stages of its return to Earth, NASA posted a lovely "Earthset" view of our planet sinking below the moon's horizon. NASA says the Orion spacecraft will exit the lunar sphere of influence at about 1:25 p.m. ET today.

On its official NASA live broadcast, Mission Control announced that all of the Flight Controllers and the Flight Director have "flipped their Artemis II patches around. We are Earthbound and ready to bring you home."

After traveling around the far side of the moon and losing contact with Earth for the last 40 minutes, Orion has resumed communcations with NASA Mission Control. While it was out of range, the astronauts on the Artemis II mission got as close as they would to the moon (within 4,067 miles of the surface of the moon) and set a record for the farthest humans have ever been from Earth (252,756 miles).

Earlier Monday, the Artemis II mission became the farthest any human has traveled from Earth, breaking the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970, which traveled 248,655 miles. After surpassing the previous record, the Orion and its crew kept getting farther from Earth. 

At 7:02 p.m. ET / 4:02 p.m. PT, the Artemis II mission reached 252,756 miles from Earth, which is now the new record for the farthest humans have traveled. 

"This milestone places the crew 4,111 miles farther from Earth than the Apollo 13 mission in 1970," NASA wrote on its live blog.

The spacecraft and crew now begin their trajectory home.

The astronauts on the Integrity capsule are now as close to the moon as they'll get during the Artemis II mission as of 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. They're just 4,067 miles above the surface of the moon.

As anticipated, the Orion spacecraft lost contact with NASA Mission Control while they're on the far side of the moon, but is expected to reestablish communications at around 7:25 p.m. ET / 4:25 p.m. PT.

"As we prepare to go out of radio communication, we're still going to feel your love from Earth," pilot Victor Glover said just before losing contact. "And to all of you down there on Earth and around Earth, we love you, from the moon. We will see you on the other side."

Upon traveling behind the moon, the crew got to see an "Earthset." They'll see an "Earthrise" when they emerge from the other side of the moon.

Right now, the crew aboard the Integrity capsule can see both the moon and Earth through window 3. 

"The moon is a gibbous, and the Earth is a crescent," they told NASA Mission Control. "In about 45 minutes, we'll have two identical crescents as we change our position in the universe."

The livestream shows the view from a GoPro camera on one of the four solar arrays on the outside of Orion and is  showing only the moon right now, but NASA is hoping it'll soon catch sight of the Earth and moon in the same shot, too.

"The moon is so bright," Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said from his post observing the moon through one of the windows on the Integrity capsule Monday afternoon. He told NASA Mission Control that it was difficult to adjust his eyes between the darkness of the spacecraft and the bright moon outside the window.

The Orion crew has turned off the lights inside the spacecraft in order to better photograph the moon without any reflections.

The terminator on the moon is "impossibly rugged," Artemis II pilot Victor Glover added as one of his lunar observations verbally conveyed to Mission Control. Glover and Christina Koch just switched places with Hansen and Reid Wiseman to convey their observations of the geological features of the moon. Each swap takes around 15 minutes to complete and allows the four astronauts to take turns observing and supporting.

Hansen said he's been able to discern browns and greens in the moon's coloring today, while Wiseman said he took a photo of the moon using his phone. NASA expects to have all images taken today by the end of the day.

If you're a player on the popular online battle royale game Fortnite, you can experience close-up lunar observations of your own.

The Lunar Horizons Fortnite map was created as part of a collaboration between Epic Games and the European Space Agency, designed to be an educational in-game experience. 

To explore the moon in Fortnite, scroll through the game modes and Discover tab until you find the Search button. In the search bar, input either "Lunar Horizons" or the code 3207-0960-6428.

Correction, 6:30 p.m. ET: Since publishing this story, we were informed by a company representative that there is no Artemis II-specific mission in Fortnite, which the article originally stated. The post has now been corrected.

Right now, during a seven-hour window, the Artemis II astronauts are close enough to the moon to make detailed descriptions of the lunar surface and its geological features. You can hear them share those observations with NASA Mission Control on the livestream as they remain in contact with Earth.

Currently, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen are providing the descriptions, while Victor Glover and Christina Koch assist in the cabin, but they'll soon swap roles. They will also be making written annotations on their personal computing devices.

NASA notes that human eyes can discern more features and provide better descriptions than simple photography from a crewless flight, which is why sending a crew around the moon is so important. A crewed mission to land on the moon is planned for 2028. 

During NASA's Artemis II live feed on Monday, a jar of Nutella unexpectedly floated by in zero gravity inside the Orion spacecraft. Posts on X, Instagram, Bluesky and TikTok captured the moment, saying that this is the "best product placement ever" or joking that the Artemis II mission was "sponsored by Nutella."

The dark spot on the moon that we can see from Earth was formed by ancient lava flows during the moon's volcanic activity. To the left of the dark spot is a smaller dark spot, which is the Orientale Basin (nicknamed the moon's Grand Canyon). From Earth, we have only a partial view of the basin, and it is never in sunlight because of the way the moon rotates.

Moments after breaking Apollo 13's record for the farthest space travel from Earth, the crew of Artemis II proposed two new names for currently unnamed craters on the moon's surface.

Commander Reid Wiseman said on the livestream that the crew decided this morning on two proposed names. The first name is Integrity, the same as the very spacecraft the crew is aboard right now. The second name is Carroll, to honor Wiseman's wife, who died in 2020. "It's a bright spot on the moon," Reid said of the crater in an emotional announcement. They have two daughters, Ellie and Katherine. 

The astronauts on the Artemis II mission have now officially traveled farther from Earth than anyone ever before, breaking the record set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which was supposed to land on the moon but was forced to instead just circle it and return to Earth after an onboard explosion.

NASA shared that Artemis II will reach a maximum distance of 252,752 miles from Earth, surpassing Apollo 13's record by an additional 4,102 miles.

The record was broken Monday at around 1:59 p.m. ET/10:59 a.m. PT, and lunar observations are set to begin at 2:45 p.m. ET / 11:45 a.m. PT. At 6:44 p.m. ET / 3:44 p.m. PT, Orion will pass behind the moon, and NASA Mission Control is expecting to lose communication with the crew before resuming it at around 7:25 p.m. ET / 4:25 p.m. PT.

CNET will be livestreaming Orion's flyby of the moon on Monday, with our stream going live at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. You can watch it on YouTube as the excitement unfolds. The Artemis II mission is looping around the moon today, taking humans farther from Earth than ever before.

Many other streaming services are also providing a livestream of the moon flyby on Monday. Here's how to watch it on Netflix, but you can also catch it on HBO Max, Hulu, NASA's YouTube channel, the NASA Plus streaming service and via the NASA apps on Apple TV, Amazon and Roku.

While the astronauts on board Orion have a lot of photography equipment with them, they also have their phones, and NASA has posted three images on Flickr taken on an iPhone.

Two of the images show Reid Wiseman in front of a window, with Earth behind him, and the third image shows Christina Koch looking out the window at our planet. They were taken on an iPhone 17 Pro Max, which has wide-angle, ultrawide and telephoto lenses to capture photos at up to 48 megapixels.

During Monday's flyby, the astronauts have 30 targets for scientific study. One of them will be the Orientale basin, a crater that's nearly 600 miles wide, part of it on the moon's far side, part of it on the near side. NASA says that the crater, which will be fully illuminated, retains clear evidence of the collision that created it. Another is the Hertzsprung basin, a 400-mile-wide crater older than Orientale and degraded by subsequent impacts, located on the far side of the moon. You can see Orientale at the center of the green circle in the screenshot above, while Hertzsprung is in the pink circle at the top left.

It's Day 6 of the Artemis II mission. The astronauts will have their close encounter with the moon and reach the far point of their 10-day journey. At some point today, the Orion capsule will be within 4,000 to 6,000 miles of the lunar surface -- as close as they'll get to the moon, which, NASA says, at that point will seem about as big as a basketball held at arm's length. Today, they'll also travel to the far point of their spaceflight and potentially break the distance record of 248,655 miles away from Earth, set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

NASA shared a detailed timeline for Artemis II's moon flyby. All times are Eastern Daylight Time and subject to change.

Monday, April 6

• 12:41 a.m.: Orion is 41,072 miles from the moon and enters its gravitational influence.
• 1:30 p.m.: Mission Control reviews the crew's science goals for the lunar flyby. 
• 1:56 p.m.: The Artemis II crew is expected  to be the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, surpassing the record set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970.  
• 2:45 p.m.: Lunar observations begin. 
• 6:44 p.m.: Mission control expects to temporarily lose communication with the crew as the Orion spacecraft passes behind the moon. 
• 6:45 p.m.: Earth will glide behind the moon, creating an "Earthset" from Orion's perspective.
• 7:02 p.m.: Orion reaches 4,070 miles above the moon's surface, its closest approach during the mission.
• 7:07 p.m.: Crew reaches their maximum distance from Earth during the mission.
• 7:25 p.m.: "Earthrise" marks Earth coming back into view on the moon's opposite edge. 
• 7:25 p.m.:  Mission Control should reacquire communication with the astronauts.  
• 8:35 - 9:32 p.m.: During a solar eclipse, the sun will pass behind the moon from the crew's perspective.
• 9:20 p.m.: Lunar observations conclude. 

Tuesday, April 7

• 1:25 p.m.: Orion is 41,072 miles from the moon, exiting the lunar sphere of influence.

On Sunday, Mission Control played CeeLo Green's Working Class Heroes (Work) to wakeup the Artemis II crew. As the astronauts start their day, the Orion is 65,235 miles from the moon. Today's schedule includes an evaluation of the Orion Crew Survival System suit, which will take up most of the morning, as well as a possible course-correction burn. The Artemis II mission will also enter the lunar sphere of influence and feel the effects of the moon's gravitational pull.

The Artemis II mission is a test flight to try out the spacecraft, equipment and processes for future moon missions. On Saturday, the astronauts performed a manual piloting demonstration of Orion to test how the spacecraft handles in deep space, similar to the proximity operations performed by Pilot Victor Glover on Wednesday. The test involved several attitude maneuvers to compare 6-degrees-of-freedom to 3-degrees-of-freedom. Six-degrees-of-freedom means there are six ways to move the craft: forward, backward, up, down, left and right. Three degrees refer to pitch, roll and yaw. The idea is to understand what it is like to fly the Orion with all 6 degrees of freedom and compare that performance to what it is like with only 3 degrees.

In another mission milestone, the Orion and its crew have traveled more than two-thirds the distance to the moon. The Artemis II mission is expected to fly around the moon on Monday.

National Geographic shared a new video on its YouTube channel showing the Artemis II launch on Wednesday in slow motion. The clip is just 7.5 seconds of liftoff, but since the footage is recorded at 66 times slower than real time, it lasts about 8 minutes. The video is mesmerizing as the Space Launch System rocket's white-orange flame builds slowly, gradually taking over the frame while generating over 8.8 million pounds of thrust. The SLS's bright, intense plume takes on an otherworldly quality in slow motion.  

Mission control continued its tradition of using a song as a wake-up call for the Artemis II crew. Saturday's morning's selection was Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan.

This is the first image NASA has shared of the Orion and its Integrity capsule in space. A camera on the ship's solar array wing took the photo.

As we all reveal the day-to-day moments that the Artemis II crew experiences, from liftoff and performing a translunar injection burn to fixing broken toilets and taking gorgeous images of Earth, we want to look back to what got the astronauts there: the rocket. It's called the Space Launch System and is the world's most powerful rocket.

Three years ago, CNET's now former Principal Video Producer, Claire Reilly, got to go inside the factory where the super-heavy-lift giant rocket, the SLS, was built. Take a look at her video below:

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman took this absolutely gorgeous photo of the Earth. If you look closely you can see the lights from cities dot the globe. Look to the bottom right and you can see a sliver of sunlight peeking around our planet.

Orion is expected to loop around the moon on Monday, giving the crew a view of about 20% of the moon's far side, which is not visible from Earth. The far side of the moon will be lit up by the sun when Orion passes, with the spacecraft aligned with the sun and moon for six hours.

During its daily press conference on Friday, NASA said it should be closing in on the moon at around 2:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. PT Monday.

Some of the lunar features they'll see -- for the first time with human eyes -- are the Pierazzo crater, the Ohm crater and the full Orientale basin.

To prepare for the moment, the crew will continue practicing stowing equipment and setting up their cameras as quickly as possible in the cramped conditions of microgravity onboard the spacecraft. The astronauts will use 80-400mm and 14-24mm telephoto lenses to take images of the far side of the moon.

On the heels of NASA's dramatic Artemis II launch and weeks after NASA announced its ambitious timeline for building a base on the moon in accordance with President Donald Trump's executive order "Ensuring American Space Superiority" on Friday, the president turned around and proposed a $5.6 billion cut in the agency's FY 2027 budget, Reuters reports.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman delivered the news in a memo to employees (as reproduced by independent site NASA Watch), stating, "Achieving this will require disciplined focus on the highest-impact activities and rigorous stewardship of taxpayer resources." 

Budget proposals are far from done deals -- they're just the jumping-off point for the politicking. But with $5.6 billion as the starting point, the eventual cuts could potentially still be pretty big.

What comes after Artemis II? Here's the timeline that NASA laid out in March for multiple missions to the moon in the coming years, building toward the eventual creation of an enduring moon base.

Artemis III: Planned for sometime in 2027. This mission will only go to low Earth orbit, where the crew will test rendezvous and docking systems for the lunar lander. Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are vying to provide that lander.

Artemis IV: Planned for early 2028. This will be the first lunar landing since 1972. It will take place at the moon's South Pole, a region not visited during the Apollo landings.

Artemis V: No date specified yet, but NASA said in March that it will be planning at least one surface landing per year following Artemis IV. Beyond Artemis V, the space agency hopes to boost the cadence to every six months and eventually faster. (For comparison, there were two Apollo landings in 1969, three in 1971 and two in 1972.)

After that, plans get more vague, with a loose three-phase outline. First comes a shift "from bespoke, infrequent missions to a repeatable, modular approach." Second, establishing a "semi-habitable infrastructure" and regular logistics. Third, delivering "heavier infrastructure needed for a continuous human foothold" and "a permanent lunar base."

The astronauts on the Artemis II mission were slated to complete the mission's first outbound trajectory correction (OTC) burn at 6:49 p.m. ET / 3:49 p.m. PT today, but NASA mission control has canceled it. Burns last around 8 seconds, and would adjust Orion's velocity by approximately 0.7 feet per second. They're used to refine the spacecraft's trajectory and use Orion's thrusters to stay on path.

However, NASA said on its Artemis II blog that the spacecraft is already on the right trajectory for the mission and did not require further adjustment.

"Flight controllers in mission control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston elected to cancel the spacecraft's first outbound trajectory correction burn, as the spacecraft's trajectory is on the right flight path," NASA wrote.

It was the first of three planned OTC burns for the mission.

Even though they are traveling to the moon in a tiny space capsule, the Artemis II astronauts are expected to get 30 minutes of exercise daily to help offset and minimize any muscle and bone loss that occurs while they're without gravity. The challenge for the Artemis II crew is that Orion's capsule, named Integrity, doesn't have that much room.

Whereas the International Space Station has 850 cubic feet of space to house 4,000 pounds of workout equipment, ranging from treadmills and cycles to weightlifting equipment, the Integrity's space exercise gear is about the size of a carry-on suitcase.

But this is NASA, and they smartly came up with a solution called the flywheel. It weighs 30 pounds and looks like it's part rowing machine and part suitcase -- it doubles as a step for getting the crew in and out of the capsule. The flywheel is cable-based and can be used for exercises like rowing and resistance training (squats and deadlifts).

"Operating much like a yo‑yo, the device provides resistance proportional to the force applied, allowing loads up to 400 pounds," says a NASA blog post for the Artemis II mission.

As each astronaut exercises, NASA's ground team monitors the spacecraft's air systems.

You're in the above photo, somewhere. While Friday was a quieter day than Wednesday's launch day for the moon mission, we were rewarded with some glamour shots taken by the four astronauts.

Mission commander Reid Wiseman and others have been snapping some beautiful photos that remind me of the famed Big Blue Marble shot taken by NASA astronaut Harrison Schmitt back in 1972 on Apollo 17. You've likely seen that image in history and science textbooks ever since. Who knows? Maybe the next generations will be seeing these new NASA shots in their (probably electronic, because it's 2026) future textbooks.

What did David Bowie say in his 1969 song, Space Oddity? "I'm stepping through the door, and I'm floating in a most peculiar way. And the stars look very different today."

Y'know who else was watching the incredible take-off of the Artemis II launch vehicle from NASA's control room? A plushie of a certain character named... Artemis.

Eagle-eyed Redditor 1108amh posted on the r/Sailor Moon subreddit that they'd spotted a white cat stuffed animal that looked just like Artemis, the guardian and advisor to Minako (Sailor Venus). 

"Looks like the astronauts have all the protection they need on their journey to the moon!" 1108amh wrote in their post. 

Someone commenting on the post noted that it likely belonged to the man in the light blue shirt sitting in front of the plush, as he's wearing a dark blue lanyard with Sailor Moon characters on it (visible if you zoom in).

The plushie cameo is a neat little reference for all fans of the wholesome Sailor Moon anime. And for fans of the less-wholesome show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, they had their own Artemis jokes too. 

Mission Control Center gave the crew a 1 p.m. EDT wake-up call in the form of the song In a Daydream by the Freddy Jones Band. When woken up, Orion was approximately 99,900 miles from Earth and 161,750 miles from the moon. Today's activities for the astronauts include:

• An outbound trajectory correction burn -- the first on this mission
• Orion spacecraft operations
• Lunar science prep work
• Crew health demonstrations

NASA just released two brilliant photographs captured by the Artemis II crew during their journey to orbit the moon.

In another beautiful picture, you can see Earth in all its glory.

In an interview with ABC News, the Artemis II crew was in good spirits. They were surprised by how smooth the liftoff went with two solid rocket boosters and were gracious about the opportunity to be on this mission. Astronaut and pilot Victor Glover thanked his fellow Americans on Earth.

"Your support and trust in us has enabled this," said Glover after fellow astronaut and Mission Specialist, Christina Koch, floated a microphone to him through zero-gravity. "We're just getting started. We worked really hard. Even though we were a little surprised to actually launch yesterday, we have a lot of mission left ahead of us."

The crew had just finished their first meal in space together after leaving Earth a day and a half prior. But Commander Reid Wiseman said that it wasn't until they completed the translunar injection burn today that the weight of the mission struck them.

"We have been to the moon before. 1968 through 1972, it's been a long time since we've been back. And I got to tell you: There is nothing normal about this," emphasized Wiseman. "Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a Herculean effort. And we are now just realizing the gravity of that."

When the crew was asked about a malfunctioning toilet, they laughed. Koch raised her hand to elaborate about what happened.

"I'll take that one. I'm the space plumber," joked Koch while explaining how she fixed the Orion's toilet. "It is probably the most important piece of equipment onboard. We were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine."

It turns out the issue was likely caused by the toilet sitting unused for too long, and the motor needed to be primed and warmed up.

At 7:49 p.m. EDT and just 150 miles above the Earth, the Artemis II crew performed a translunar injection burn with the European Service Module's Orbital Maneuvering System engine. The burn lasted 5 minutes and 49 seconds and put the Artemis II mission on a trajectory that will take Orion around the moon and back to Earth. The solar array wings were positioned forward (away from the ESM) during the burn to avoid any damage.

NASA shared in a post that the four Artemis II astronauts started their day at 2:35 p.m. EDT. The Orion crew got a wake-up call in the form of Green Light, the 2008 John Legend song featuring Andre 3000.

So many people were lucky enough to see the Orion launch happen live, with videos making the rounds on social media. On Instagram, several people have posted clips of seeing the rocket launch from a plane in the sky, while others watched from viewing points all across Florida, including Disney's Grand Floridian resort at Walt Disney World.

One particularly impressive video we saw was not so much about the location as about how it was filmed: Someone used a Nintendo 3DS camera and shared the video on Reddit, with the outdated handheld console managing to capture both video and sound rather well.

The Artemis II crew fixed the restroom on the Orion spacecraft on Thursday after reporting that the toilet fan was jammed less than 24 hours after liftoff. 

In a blog post, NASA shared that the Orion's bathroom became operational again after the astronauts worked with directions from mission control in Houston on how to get into the fan and clear the area. They had reported a blinking fault light earlier, and "mission control teams successfully assessed the data and worked with the crew to troubleshoot and resolve the issue."

Wondering how a toilet in space works? Nat Geo and NASA partnered to release behind-the-scenes videos of the Orion yesterday, including a look at the toilet. Astronauts have to use foot straps, handholds and hearing protection to use the toilet, which has a funnel to collect the waste and store it in containers.

Liftoff is done, so what's next? The rocket's four-person crew is scheduled to perform what's called a translunar injection burn this evening. Basically, it's a maneuver that gives the rocket an extra boost of power to help it successfully leave Earth's orbit. Orion will burn its engines for approximately six minutes during the exercise, NASA said. After, the astronauts will officially begin the first four-day leg of their journey to the moon.

Astronauts: They're just like us. Sometimes their email client gets glitchy. 

More than 36,000 miles from the planet's surface, Commander Reid Wiseman's Microsoft Outlook stopped working. He reported it as they were troubleshooting other software.

"I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working if you want to remote in," Wiseman said.

About an hour later, after remotely taking a look like any good corporate tech support, Houston reported getting things working again: "For Outlook, we were able to get it open. It will show 'offline,' which is expected."

The goal of the Artemis II mission is to serve as a practice run for NASA's deep space systems and to establish processes for future moon landings. About four hours into the mission, astronaut and pilot Victor Glover manually flew Orion (another mission first) and conducted a series of control and proximity demonstrations. He used Orion to practice what it would be like for the craft to dock and connect to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. Orion didn't actually dock with the ICPS for Artemis II, and it won't during this mission. Instead, the ICPS will be allowed to reenter Earth's atmosphere while NASA monitors its disposal burn.

Glover used the Orion's docking camera (pictured above) to center in on an ICPS docking target while testing the nuances of the craft's pitch, roll and yaw movements. The idea is to take lessons from these demonstrations and develop processes for future lunar missions in which the capsule would need to dock with and connect to a lunar lander for extraction.

On NASA's live video stream of the Artemis II mission, the Orion capsule is seen against the background of Earth, with Australia visible.

If you want to talk about team efforts, look at spaceflight. Thousands of people make it possible for rockets to get to space, and with Artemis II, lift astronauts to the moon. That also extends to supporting the people gathered for launches.

Shortly before launch, AT&T reached out with details of how its FirstNet resources are being deployed to support the launch. FirstNet, the First Responder Network Authority, is the company's emergency response and public safety program that is a private/public partnership between AT&T and the US government.

(Warning, acronyms ahead, but that's no surprise when working with the space industry.)

For the Artemis II mission, AT&T coordinated with NASA Protective Services and its Emergency Management Operations to maintain reliable communications across Kennedy Space Center. It deployed a SatCOLT (Satellite Cell on Light Truck) and a CRD (Compact Rapid Deployable) to keep NASA's public safety teams connected.

It also brought in an LCT (LEO Cell Trailer) for high-speed temporary cellular service and activated a Cell Booster Pro at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for indoor phone and data service.

Lastly, NASA Kennedy's Press Site had an NDR (Network Disaster Recovery) Connect and Care Trailer parked for attendees to charge their devices. Since the rocket lifted off spot on time, it may not have gotten much use, but space launches often get delayed for technical and weather reasons, so it was prepared for an extended launch window.

We've passed another key moment on the Artemis II mission: the deployment of the solar array wings.

The Orion spacecraft has launched, taking astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Wiseman into space on the historic 10-day Artemis II mission for the moon.

Liftoff occurred at 6:35 p.m. ET / 3:35 p.m. ET.

NASA has retracted the crew access arm from the Artemis II rocket.

The Orion has been cleared to launch today, with the new launch time set for 6:35 p.m. ET / 3:33 p.m. PT (and 12 seconds).

The Artemis II liftoff countdown has now resumed after a planned hold and check at the 10-minute mark. The mission is officially in terminal count, and the automated ground launch sequencer hardware has begun running.

The Artemis II liftoff countdown is holding at 10 minutes. Once the countdown resumes, the mission will be in terminal countdown.

NASA's Artemis II launch countdown clock officially passed 30 minutes to takeoff.

A livestream from the Orion spacecraft will begin at around 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, or once launch takes place. The stream will go live as Artemis II begins ascending into space, featuring "live views from Artemis II's Orion spacecraft, without commentary, as it makes its journey around the moon." The stream will end just before the Orion's splashdown into the Pacific Ocean at the conclusion of the mission. 

If there's a loss of signal or a lack of enough bandwidth during the mission, you'll see a blue screen. If it's nighttime, you'll see what looks like a black screen.

To catch up on what's been happening overnight or while you're at work, you can read NASA's live blog for all Artemis II mission updates. We'll also keep updating with major mission milestones on CNET.

Astronaut eats: they're not just Tang and Space Food Sticks these days. NASA shared a look at the menu for the Artemis II astronauts, and it doesn't sound half bad.

The Artemis II crew will enjoy more than 10 types of beverages, including coffee, mango-peach smoothies, green tea, apple cider, lemonade, a pineapple drink, cocoa and breakfast drinks flavored in their choice of chocolate, vanilla or strawberry. 

The most common food items they'll eat include tortillas, wheat flat bread, vegetable quiche, barbecued beef brisket, mango salad, granola with blueberries, macaroni and cheese, tropical fruit salad, couscous with nuts, broccoli au gratin, spicy green beans, almonds, cashews, and butternut squash cauliflower.

NASA also reports that the astronauts can choose to spice up their meals -- there are five different hot sauces available to the crew. And culinary flavorings available include maple syrup, chocolate spread, peanut butter, spicy mustard, strawberry jam, honey, cinnamon and almond butter. Sweet treats include cookies, chocolate, pudding, cake, candy-coated almonds and cobbler.

And, no, they're not popping a flavor pill or sucking a sandwich out of a tube, like old sci-fi shows told us.

"Food aboard Orion is ready-to-eat, rehydratable, thermostabilized or irradiated," NASA says. "The crew uses Orion's potable water dispenser to rehydrate foods and beverages and a compact, briefcase-style food warmer to heat meals as needed."

An issue has been discovered with less than an hour to go until the launch window opens: one of the two battery temperature sensors on the Launch Abort System is "out of spec," with the NASA engineering team now troubleshooting to understand whether it's a sensor issue or a battery issue. It's unknown whether this could delay or prevent launch.

Launch weather chances have improved, however, with NASA now predicting a 90% chance of launch, up from the 80% previously reported.

With just over an hour until the launch window opens, the last hatch on the Orion spacecraft has been sealed.

The range is cleared for launch, and the sun is poking through the clouds after some rain, according to NASA's livestream. Again, the two-hour window begins at 6:24 p.m. ET / 3:24 p.m. PT.

The Artemis II mission is the first time humans have gone to the moon since the 1970s. In addition, Victor Glover will be the first Black person to travel to the moon; Christina Koch will be the first woman; and Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian.

The astronauts will not be disembarking the spacecraft and setting foot on the moon. Rather, this mission will travel around the moon, including to the far side, where no crewed mission has been before.

NASA intends to put humans on the moon by 2028:

• Artemis II: Scheduled to launch today, April 1, it will send astronauts around the moon to conduct tests.
• Artemis III: Scheduled to launch in mid-2027, it will perform additional tests, connect with lunar landers in low Earth orbit and test gear.
• Artemis IV: Scheduled to launch in early 2028, it will put humans back on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
• Artemis V: Could launch in late 2028 or 2029, and intends to put humans on the moon, again.

As we close in on 2.5 hours before the launch window opens, you can check out some of National Geographic's videos taken aboard Orion last year as part of a partnership with NASA. Some of the videos showcase the spacecraft's toilet and sleeping quarters.

NASA and Nat Geo collaborated under a Space Act Agreement to develop compact, lightweight audiovisual hardware for use inside Orion during the Artemis II mission.

Over on the Orion right now, voice checks with all four crew members have been completed, and while rain showers are heading through the Kennedy Space Center area, they shouldn't be a problem for launch. According to AccuWeather, it's currently 75 degrees Fahrenheit and partly sunny on Merritt Island, Florida. AccuWeather is predicting conditions are "likely dry for the Artemis II launch."

People all over the world are watching the launch preparations with interest, including royalty. The Instagram account of Britain's royal family posted a message from King Charles III of the United Kingdom on Wednesday, in which the king sent a congratulatory message to one of the astronauts.

The king's message was sent to mission specialist and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Colonel Jeremy Hansen, the first Canadian to travel on a moon mission. Canada is part of Britain's Commonwealth of Nations.

"As you embark on this momentous endeavour, I send you and your fellow crew members my heartfelt good wishes," the message reads. "May the stars align in your favour, and may your safe return inspire countless others to uphold the values of sustainability, cooperation and wonder that the Astra Carta inspires."

Mention of the Astra Carta refers to an initiative by Charles to inspire sustainability across the space industry.

The full message sent to Hansen is available on the royal family website.

The close-out crew is now strapping NASA astronaut Commander Reid Wiseman and Canadian mission specialist II Jeremy Hansen into the Orion, while NASA pilot Victor Glover and NASA mission specialist Christina Koch wait in the white room to board. They have to strap in the astronauts two at a time because of the extremely tight quarters on board; one suit technician had to kneel on the seat where Koch will be seated in order to strap Wiseman and Hansen in.

Five-point harnesses with a quick release are being strapped to the astronauts, as well as the close-out crew connecting communications, air and water cooling cables.

The Orion test conductor just completed a successful test with Hansen, making contact with the astronauts on-board the spacecraft. A successful comms check with Wiseman was then completed.

With just 4 hours until the launch window opens, the crew is in the final stages prior to boarding the Orion spacecraft, crossing a 274-foot-high bridge to the entry point.

The crew member signed a wall with their patch on it at Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, and they were fitted by NASA's suit technicians with their caps, helmets and gloves in the white room. The suits are flame-retardant and have built-in knee pads, as the astronauts will have to crawl inside the spacecraft.

The astronauts boarded the Astrovan (a customized Airstream van built for NASA) to take them to the launch pad. It's about a 20-minute journey, but to kill the time, the van has a video player and monitor. NASA's official launch broadcast said that the Artemis II crew plans to watch Top Gun and Point Break while in the Astrovan. It's not clear how much of either film they'll get to view, but the NASA broadcast noted that Point Break was chosen because astronaut Christina Koch surfs.

Before the astronauts head to the launch pad, they said goodbye to their families ahead of their 10-day mission. The Artemis II crew boarded the Astrovan, a modified Airstream van, which will carry them to the launch pad.

NASA has a handful of live streams from different cameras for the launch in addition to the official broadcast. There are live streams from the Kennedy Space Center, where the launch pad is, and from the International Space Station, monitoring the situation from Earth's orbit. The Artemis II mission is slated to travel 1,000 times farther than the ISS, to the far side of the moon. It'll be the farthest a crewed mission has ever traveled -- around 4,000 miles farther than the Apollo 11 crew traveled.

With just under five hours to go until launch, the crew is in the suit-up room right now. Over on NASA's livestream on YouTube, you can watch Reid Wiseman (the commander), Victor Glover (the pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist) and Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist) getting fitted out with their equipment. The four astronauts are wearing bright orange space suits as other NASA workers attach equipment and technology to their suits.

The weather is favorable, though one display unit onboard the spacecraft is running cooler than usual. NASA cites an 80% chance of launch today. The space agency is predicting launch towards the start of its two-hour window, which opens at 6:24 p.m. ET / 3:24 p.m. PT.

While the Artemis II mission isn't planning on having astronauts land on the moon's surface, it's important for many reasons.

Like Apollo 8, which laid the foundation for Neil Armstrong and the other Apollo 11 astronauts to become the first men to walk on the moon, Artemis II is integral to future NASA missions. Artemis II is the first crewed mission of the series, which will put the Space Launch System rocket and its life support systems to the test. There are two more Artemis missions planned and funded through 2028, with Artemis IV slated to put humans on the moon.

Artemis II's crew is also planning to go farther into deep space than any previous mission. At the peak of its orbit, the rocket will be over 4,700 miles from the far side of the moon. With NASA and other space organizations dedicated to exploring deeper space and Mars, it's important to build and test technology and equipment that can support longer missions.

I'm going to say upfront that I am not an expert in aerospace engineering. If you are, you might enjoy reading NASA's official reference guide for the Artemis II rocket. Here are some quick highlights.

• Artemis II's rocket consists of a Space Launch System (SLS, the actual rocket) and Orion spacecraft (the payload on top of the rocket, which is what the astronauts will return in).
• The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, producing 8.8 million pounds of thrust. It has two rocket boosters and is 98 meters (about 322 feet) tall. That's just a bit taller than the Statue of Liberty.
• The Orion spacecraft is wider and roomier than the spacecraft used in the Apollo missions. Luckily for the astronauts, it also has a new and improved toilet.
• Compared with the Saturn V rocket, the SLS is shorter but has more efficient engines that pack a bigger punch. But the SLS maxes out at 27 metric tons, while the Saturn V could support heavier payloads. You can check out our full comparison of Artemis versus Saturn V for more info.

I grew up watching the Apollo moon missions. It was absolutely thrilling -- every liftoff, every step on the lunar surface, every splashdown on the safe return to Earth. Then, suddenly, it was over, and more than 50 years have passed since humans made that epic journey so far from home. Now, the Artemis program has arrived to bring back that sense of awe. Space travel has never been exactly humdrum, but after so many successful space shuttle, Soyuz and SpaceX flights into orbit and long-term residencies at the International Space Station, it has gotten routine. 

Artemis II is here to shake things up.

Which got me thinking about where this is taking us. The Apollo program was the culmination of the first wave of space exploration, an epoch of heroic achievement by scientists, engineers and astronauts alike. The Artemis missions mark the start of a whole new era of space exploitation. It won't be long now before we are tapping into the moon's natural resources, before space mining becomes a career option. Elon Musk, rather than Neil Armstrong, could soon be the face of our lunar endeavors. I hope the sense of wonder and adventure stays with us.

The Artemis II crew (from left): Backup crew members Andre Douglas and Jenni Gibbons, then prime crew members pilot Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialists Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch. Hansen is the sole Canadian among the American crew and will be the first of his countrymen to travel to the moon.