Artemis II spacecrew prepare for historic moon flyby

The Artemis astronauts were gearing up Saturday for their long-anticipated lunar flyby, including reviewing the surface features they must analyse and photograph during their time circling the Moon.

Upon waking around 1635 GMT on Saturday, the astronauts were approximately 271,979 kilometres from Earth, and approaching the Moon at 178,154 kilometres, according to NASA.

The next major milestone of the approximately 10-day journey is expected overnight Sunday into Monday, at which point the astronauts will enter the "lunar sphere of influence" - when the Moon's gravity will have a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth's.

If all proceeds smoothly, as Orion whips around the Moon the astronauts could set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.

The astronauts kicked off their day with a meal that included scrambled eggs and coffee, NASA said, and had woken up to the tune of Chappell Roan's pop smash "Pink Pony Club."

"Morale is high on board," Commander Reid Wiseman told Houston's Mission Control centre as the space crew's work day began.

The father of two girls was in high spirits in part because he had the chance to speak with his daughters from space.