Three days into the first crewed journey to the Moon in more than half a century, the Artemis II crew is healthy, busy, and sending back photographs that are already stopping people in their tracks.

As of Thursday’s mission status briefing, Orion had passed the 100,000-mile mark and had roughly 150,000 miles left to travel before reaching the Moon.

For real-time tracking of Artemis II: MaxQ Artemis II Tracker

The spacecraft is performing well across virtually all systems, and the crew is in great spirits after an intense first two days that culminated in Wednesday evening’s successful translunar injection burn.

That 5 minutes and 57 seconds TLI burn came in within 5 percent of predicted propellant usage. “It was really good to see that burn go so well,” said Orion Program Manager Howard Hu. The burn was flawless, and Orion is now tracking cleanly toward its lunar flyby, currently scheduled for Monday.

The Photos Are Out Of This World

NASA shared two new images from the crew Thursday, and they’re worth finding. The first, taken by Wiseman through an Orion window, captures Earth eclipsing the Sun, with auroras visible at both upper right and lower left and a faint sweep of zodiacal light in the corner. The second shows Earth with the terminator line — the shadow boundary between day and night — clearly visible.

“It is remarkable to think that, with the exception of our four crewmates, all of us are represented in this image,” said Artemis Deputy Program Director Lakisha Hawkins of the aurora shot.

More imagery is on the way. The crew has Nikon cameras and iPhones onboard, and Flight Director Judd Frieling noted that while most of the photos so far have been Wiseman’s, all four crew members are shooting. Expect a broader mix as the mission continues.

Minor Issues, Major Redundancy

Day 3 brought one item worth noting: ground teams had to isolate one branch of the service module’s helium pressurization system, which is used to push fuel and oxidizer to the main engines. The redundant branch is operating perfectly, and Hu made it clear that there’s enough helium pressure in the tanks themselves to complete all remaining mission burns without active regulation, if needed. No mission impacts are expected and the situation will continue to be monitored closely.

A planned trajectory correction burn — OTC-1 — was actually skipped entirely, because Orion’s navigation has been so precise that the correction needed was too small to bother with. It’ll simply be rolled into tomorrow’s planned burn instead. That’s the kind of “problem” everyone is happy to have, especially the crew. Not having the burn clears some time off the calendar, which allows more time to complete the day’s tasks.

There were also some minor cabin comfort adjustments: temperatures had dipped to around 65°F in the first couple of days as some heaters were dialed back, and the crew wasn’t loving it. Ground teams tuned things back up to the low-to-mid 70s. Target conditions going forward are roughly 70°F and 25 percent humidity, comfortable for long-duration spaceflight.

Monday Is A Big Day

Monday is when Orion makes its closest approach to the Moon. The lunar science observation period is expected to begin around 2:30 PM EDT. The crew will spend much of the day visually observing the lunar surface, taking photographs, and observing the far side of the Moon.

The communications blackout as Orion passes behind the Moon is expected to last about 40 minutes — and physics, as Flight Director Frieling dryly noted, will absolutely bring them back around to the front side.

Stay tuned.