Overview
- Artemis II, which completed a translunar injection Thursday, is now roughly halfway to the Moon with Orion so on course that controllers canceled the first planned trajectory correction.
- NASA says the crew will loop around the Moon’s far side Monday to capture high‑resolution imagery and targeted surface observations guided by a dedicated lunar objectives plan.
- NASA released the first photos of Earth from the mission and reported the four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen—are in good condition.
- Before leaving Earth orbit, mission teams deployed four international CubeSats from Argentina, South Korea, Germany, and Saudi Arabia to conduct research.
- Orion is flying a free‑return path that uses the Moon’s gravity to swing the spacecraft back to Earth, with splashdown in the Pacific planned about 10 days after launch.