Artemis II's moon-bound astronauts capture Earth's brilliant blue beauty as they leave it behind

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planet’s brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon.

NASA released the crew’s first downlinked images Friday, 1 1/2 days into the first astronaut moonshot in more than half a century.

The first photo taken by commander Reid Wiseman shows a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsule’s windows. The second shows the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling white tendrils of clouds.

As of midmorning Friday, Wiseman and his crew were 90,000 miles (145,000 kilometers) from Earth and were quickly gaining on the moon with another 168,000 miles (270,000 kilometers) to go. They should reach their destination on Monday.

The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping. They fired Orion's main engine Thursday night that set them on their course.

They're the first lunar travelers since Apollo 17 in 1972.

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