NASA shares breathtaking photos of Artemis II astronauts taking in the view from Orion’s windows

The Artemis II crew is almost on the moon, and the astronauts spent the weekend preparing for their lunar flyby on Monday. This includes demonstrations of manual piloting, reviewing their science objectives for the six-hour observation period and evaluating their spacesuits, which are there to support life in the event of an emergency and for their return home. But they’ve also had plenty of time to enjoy the sights — and those sights are certainly impressive. In the latest series of images shared by the space agency, astronauts are seen looking at Earth through the windows of the Orion spacecraft.

Orion will reach the Moon’s vicinity shortly after midnight on Monday, April 6. Later that day, the crew is expected to reach a point farther than any human has ever traveled from Earth, surpassing the record of 248,655 miles from Earth set by Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970.

The moon viewing period will begin at 2:45 PM ET and a few hours later they will be behind the moon and briefly out of communication. The spacecraft’s closest approach to the moon is expected to occur at 7:02 p.m., when it will be 4,066 miles from the surface. « From this distance, the crew will see the entire lunar disk at once, including regions near the north and south poles, » according to NASA. Later, the crew will have a chance to see a solar eclipse, « when Orion, the Moon and the Sun line up in such a way that the astronauts will see our star disappear behind the Moon for about an hour. » NASA will have coverage of the flyby starting at 1 p.m. ET.