The longtime Lake Forest resident and restaurant operator recorded a message before his death last year for the astronauts, cheering their achievement. During their lunar flyby, the Artemis II crew broke Lovell's Apollo 13 record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth.

The astronauts aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft on the Artemis II mission captured breathtaking photos of Earth during their 10-day journey to and from the moon.

The Artemis II astronauts were on track to pass as close as 4,066 miles to the moon, as their Orion capsule whips past it, hangs a U-turn and then heads back toward Earth. It will take them four days to get back, with a splashdown in the Pacific concluding their test flight on Friday. Their expected speed at closest approach to the moon: 3,139 mph.

NASA is expected to hold a news conference at 4:30 p.m. EDT. Watch live views of space from Artemis II in our video player above. A day after the historic lunar flyaround, NASA on Tuesday released striking new photos taken by the U.S.-Canadian crew.

The Artemis II astronauts are now forever intertwined with Apollo 8. A day after the historic lunar flyaround, NASA on Tuesday released striking new photos taken by the crew.

The four astronauts who flew around the moon channeled Apollo 8’s famous 1968 Earthrise shot with a powerful photo of Earth setting behind the gray, pockmarked satellite.

Jim Head helped train Apollo astronauts and select lunar landing sites for the missions.

Former NASA astronaut Capt. Butch Wilmore explains the importance of the Artemis II mission on ‘The Big Weekend Show.’