(Reported by Jenipher Camino Gonzalez; Edited by Karl Sexton)

The Artemis II mission successfully continued its lunar flyby path, passing the halfway point between the Earth and the Moon, NASA has said.

Artemis II astronauts are the first to fly towards the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. They will not land, as their mission is a test of the capsule itself and the first steps of NASA's planned landing in 2028. The agency hopes to eventually establish a base on the moon.

MIssion control in Houston held a call with the four astronauts on board the Orion capsule at around 11:00 pm (4:00 am UTC) on Friday night, and informed them of the significance of their location.

"You are now closer to the moon than you are to us on Earth," said. NASA said they were 219,000 kilometers (136,080 miles) from Earth.

The Orion spacecraft will use the Moon's gravity to slingshot itself back to Earth without propulsionImage: NASA/UPI Photo/Newscom/picture alliance
The milestone comes just two days, five hours and 24 minutes after they took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

American astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen are now on a so-called "free-return" trajectory, which allows Orion to use the Moon's gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth without propulsion.

"We all ... had a collective, I guess, expression of joy at that... We can see the Moon out of the docking hatch right now; it is a beautiful sight," Koch told mission control during the call.

As they swung around Earth, the astronauts took photos of our planet, which NASA has released.

Among the photos taken by Commander Wiseman were a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsule's windows and a shot of the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling clouds, where even a green aurora could be seen at the North Pole.

"It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks," Wiseman said during a TV interview that the astronauts held.

The Artemis II crew are working to make the spaceship a home during their 10-day missionImage: NASA/AP Photo/picture alliance
As their journey progresses, the astronauts have been settling into their confined space. They reported that it was a little bit cold inside the spacecraft, but that they were still making it a home.

During their first hours aboard Orion, they performed checks and fixed minor problems on the spacecraft, which included a communications issue and, crucially, a malfunctioning toilet.

Koch told the media that she was proud to call herself a space plumber.

"I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board," Koch said. "So we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine," she added.

The astronauts have also already put in their first workouts, as each must spend 30 minutes a day exercising to offset the muscle and bone loss that occurs in zero gravity.

Artemis II astronauts are the first to fly in the Orion capsuleImage: Reid Wiseman/NASA/AP Photo/dpa/picture alliance