Artemis II astronauts expected to reach far side of moon on Monday | Artemis II

Astronauts on the historic Artemis II mission are expected to reach the far side of the Moon on Monday, venturing deeper into space than any human has before.

NASA said it was pleased with the progress made towards flying past the Moon since the team’s launch on Wednesday, with the three Americans and a Canadian on track to break the record for maximum range from Earth, while a total solar eclipse awaits them.

“The Earth is pretty small and the Moon is definitely getting bigger,” pilot Victor Glover reported after Artemis fired a key thruster to leave Earth’s orbit.

The crew are the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half a century, picking up where the Apollo program left off in 1972.

While the mission is already returning valuable data and images, the crew has reported ongoing problems with one of the Orion capsule’s most crucial pieces of equipment: the toilet.

Until the lunar toilet is repaired, mission control instructed the astronauts to continue using backup urine collection bags. The dresser malfunctioned after Wednesday’s takeoff and has worked only sporadically since.

Engineers suspect ice is blocking the pipe that is preventing urine from flowing completely overboard. (Restrooms are still open for business #2.)

A version of the Artemis II toilet was tested on the International Space Station several years ago but remains prone to malfunctions.

Debbie Korth, deputy director of NASA’s Orion program, said astronauts also reported an odor coming from the bathroom, which is buried in the floor of the capsule with a door and curtain for privacy. “Space toilets and bathrooms are something that everyone can really understand… it’s always a challenge,” she said, noting that space shuttle toilets also often broke down.

John Honeycutt, chairman of the mission management team, said he wanted the facilities to operate reliably for the crew. “They’re fine,” he said of the astronauts. “They trained to handle the situation.”

The astronauts woke up Sunday to pop star Chappell Roan’s inclusive anthem, Pink Pony Club, and started their day with a breakfast of scrambled eggs and coffee.

“Morale is high on board,” Commander Reid Wiseman said at Mission Control Center in Houston as the workday began after speaking with his daughters from space. “We are here, we are so far away, and for a moment, I found my little family,” he said during a live press conference. “It was simply the greatest moment of my entire life.”

The US space agency has released an image taken by the Artemis crew showing the Orientale Basin, sometimes called the lunar “Grand Canyon”. Speaking to Canadian children living from space, astronaut Christina Koch said the crew was very excited to see the pool, which looks like a target.

“It is very distinctive and no human eye had seen this crater before until today when we had the privilege of seeing it,” Koch said during the question-and-answer session hosted by the Canadian Space Agency.

The astronauts received training in geology so they could photograph and describe lunar features, including ancient lava flows and impact craters. They all had to memorize the “big 15” of the Moon, the 15 characteristics that would help them find their way.

The space agency previously released images of Orion that included a comprehensive portrait of Earth with its deep blue oceans and puffy clouds.

The next major milestone is expected Sunday night, when astronauts will enter the “lunar sphere of influence,” where the Moon’s gravity will exert a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth’s.

If all goes well, as the Orion spacecraft orbits the Moon, the astronauts – Americans Glover, Koch and Wiseman as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen – will have traveled further from Earth than any human has before.

The Apollo flights of the 1960s and 1970s flew about 70 miles above the lunar surface, but the Artemis crew will be just over 4,000 miles away at their closest approach, allowing them to see the full spherical surface of the moon, including regions near both poles.

During the flyby, which will last approximately six hours, the crew will have to observe the celestial body with the naked eye, using on-board cameras. The trip promises views of the far side of the Moon that were too dark or too difficult to see for the 24 Apollo astronauts who came before them.

The Apollo 13 astronauts missed their moon landing when one of their oxygen tanks ruptured en route in 1970.

The Artemis II mission is part of an ambitious plan to return to the Moon multiple times, with the goal of establishing a permanent lunar base providing a platform for further exploration.

NASA aims to land two crew members near the lunar south pole in 2028.

The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.