By Our Correspondent

National News – Astronauts aboard Artemis II mission have released striking high-resolution photographs of Earth as their spacecraft travels halfway between our planet and the Moon.

The images were taken on Friday by mission commander Reid Wiseman from inside the Orion spacecraft, providing a dramatic view of Earth against the darkness of space.

The milestone occurred about two days, five hours and 24 minutes after launch from Kennedy Space Center.

According to NASA, the spacecraft was roughly 142,000 miles (228,500 km) from Earth and about 132,000 miles from the Moon when the images were captured.

One of the most notable photographs, titled “Hello, World,” shows the Atlantic Ocean stretching across the planet’s surface, surrounded by the thin glow of Earth’s atmosphere and green auroras near the poles.

In the background, the bright planet Venus appears as a glowing point of light.

Another image taken through one of Orion’s windows shows the divide between day and night on Earth, known as the terminator line.

The pictures were taken shortly after the crew completed a trans-lunar injection burn, a powerful engine firing that pushed the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and set it on a path toward the Moon.

Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said astronauts were “glued to the windows” photographing the planet after the manoeuvre.

The Artemis II mission is carrying four astronauts on a journey of more than 200,000 miles around the far side of the Moon before returning to Earth.

The spacecraft is expected to fly past the lunar far side on 6 April and splash down in the Pacific Ocean on 10 April.

The mission marks the first time humans have travelled beyond Earth’s orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

NASA says the flight will help test systems needed for future lunar landings, with the agency aiming to send astronauts back to the Moon’s surface later this decade.