Earth in rear-view of Artemis II astronauts

Artemis II astronauts have crossed the halfway point between Earth and the moon as they race towards a planned lunar flyby, and NASA has released the first images of Earth captured from inside the Orion spacecraft.

As the astronauts settled down to sleep early on Sunday after rounding off the fourth day of their 10-day mission, they were nearly 322,000km (200,000 miles) from Earth and 132,000km (82,000 miles) from the moon, according to NASA’s online dashboard.

The United States space agency published photographs taken from the capsule, including a full view of Earth showing a glowing orb of deep blue oceans and swirling clouds.

The four-person crew is expected to swing around the far side of the moon early this coming week, a manoeuvre not attempted in more than 50 years.

The next major milestone in the journey is expected overnight from Sunday into Monday US time when the crew is due to enter what NASA calls the “lunar sphere of influence”, the point at which the moon’s gravity exerts a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth’s.

If all goes to plan, Orion’s sweep around the moon could see the astronauts travel farther from Earth than any human in history.

Artemis II is part of NASA’s efforts to return to the lunar surface on a regular basis with the eventual goal of establishing a permanent base on the moon that could serve as a launchpad for deeper space exploration.