Th Artemis II mission will take four astronauts thousands of miles beyond the moon before the Orion spacecraft makes a U-turn and heads back to Earth on an approximately 10-day journey. The launch countdown is already underway at Kennedy Space Center in Florida,

The Artemis astronauts were gearing up Saturday for their long-anticipated lunar flyby, including reviewing the surface features they must analyze and photograph during their time circling the Moon.

As Day 4 dawned on the Artemis II mission, the astronauts were closer to the moon than to Earth, after crossing the halfway point between the two bodies on Friday night.