Coin Press - Artemis astronauts preparing for historic lunar flyby

"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.

It's a feat Wiseman has dubbed "Herculean" and which humanity has not accomplished in more than half-a-century.

Later on Saturday, Glover was due to perform a manual piloting demonstration to provide NASA with more data regarding the spacecraft's performance in deep space.

After that, the crew was planning to go over their checklist for documenting their experience traveling around the Moon.

The astronauts have had geology training in order to be able to photograph and describe lunar features, including ancient lava flows and impact craters.

They'll see the Moon from a unique vantage point compared with the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s.

Apollo flights flew some 70 miles above the lunar surface, but the Artemis 2 crew will be just over 4,000 miles at their closest approach, which will allow them to see the complete, circular surface of the Moon, including regions near both poles.

- 'Amazing' -

The crew has been busy taking photographs including with smartphones, devices NASA recently approved to take aboard spaceflights.

The space agency has released images from Orion that included a full portrait of Earth, featuring its deep blue oceans and billowing clouds.

NASA official Lakiesha Hawkins praised the photographs taken by commander Wiseman, calling them "amazing" during a briefing Friday.

"We continue to learn all about our spacecraft as we operate it in deep space with crew for the first time," Hawkins said.

"It's important to remind ourselves of that as we learn a little bit more day by day."

The Artemis 2 mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return to the Moon, with the goal of establishing a permanent lunar base that will offer a platform for further exploration.

It's a highly anticipated journey that demands exacting precision -- but there's still room for the astronauts to live out their childhood dreams of spaceflight.

"It just makes me feel like a little kid," said Hansen recently, describing the joy of floating.

X.Wong--CPN