Artemis astronauts more than halfway to moon, putting Earth in rearview

Houston/New York –

The Artemis 2 astronauts passed the halfway point between Earth and the moon on Saturday as they sped toward a planned lunar flyby, with NASA releasing initial images of Earth taken from inside the Orion spacecraft.

Astronaut Christina Koch said the crew had a collective “expression of joy” upon being told of the milestone, which was hit around two days, 5 hours and 24 minutes after the spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“We can see the moon out of the docking hatch right now, it is a beautiful sight,” Koch said around 11 p.m. Friday, according to the space agency’s official live broadcast.