Artemis II crew now halfway to Moon as they take 'spectacular' image of Earth

The snap was taken aboard the Orion capsule by its commander, Reid Wiseman, as the crew head towards the Moon.

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The mission's commander, Reid Wiseman, took the "spectacular" images, Nasa says, after the crew completed a final engine burn that set them on a trajectory towards our closest celestial neighbour.

At about 07:00 BST, Nasa's online dashboard showed the Orion spacecraft was by then 142,000 miles (228,500 km) from Earth, and 132,000 miles from the Moon.

Astronaut Christina Koch said the crew had a collective "expression of joy" upon being told of the milestone, which was hit around two days, five hours and 24 minutes after blast off.

The first image, called Hello, World, shows the vast expanse of blue that is the Atlantic Ocean, framed by a glow of the atmosphere as the Earth eclipses the Sun and green auroras at either pole.