Artemis II mission astronauts (L-R) NASA's commander Reid Wiseman, Canadian Space Agency's mission specialist Jeremy Hansen and NASA's mission specialist Christina Koch during a brief demonstration of the food they eat to respond a question during a "VIP call" with Canadian children on Saturday. — AFP HOUSTON, Apr 05 (AFP): 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.
"Morale is high on board," commander Reid Wiseman told Houston's Mission Control center as the space crew's work day began.
Upon waking around 1635 GMT on Saturday, the astronauts were approximately 169,000 miles (271,979 kilometers) from Earth, and approaching the Moon at 110,700 miles (178,154 kilometers), according to NASA.
The next major milestone of the approximately 10-day journey is expected overnight Sunday into Monday, at which point the astronauts will enter the "lunar sphere of influence"-when the Moon's gravity will have stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth's.
If all proceeds smoothly, as Orion whips around the Moon the astronauts could set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.
The astronauts kicked off their day with a meal that included scrambled eggs and coffee, NASA said, and had woken up to the tune of Chappell Roan's pop smash "Pink Pony Club."
Wiseman along with fellow Americans Christina Koch and Victor Glover as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen are on a historic journey around the Moon, which they're soon due to slingshot around.
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