Artemis II's crew sent a heartfelt Easter message to the world as they approached the moon Sunday -- a remarkable echo of a Christmas address given by the mission's closest cousin in space history, Apollo 8.

"No matter your faith or religion, for me the teachings of Jesus were always a very simple truth of love, universal love. Love yourself, and love others," astronaut Jeremy Hansen said Sunday while broadcasting from onboard the Artemis capsule.

"Something for us being here looking back at all of you through one tiny window, that just resonates 100 percent true," he added. "Our goal as humanity should be to just follow in that example, there were may examples in the past, but that's one example of love that we can just all follow in the footsteps, and it will serve us well."

Astronaut Christina Koch also sent love to her family back in Houston, along with all the children around the world enjoying Easter egg hunts on the holiday -- and revealed the crew had shared in the holiday spirit by hiding some eggs around the capsule.

"They were the dehydrated scrambled egg variety, but we're all pretty happy with them," Koch said, as the crew laughed.

The crew's Easter message and lunar approach during one of Christianity's biggest holidays was yet another similarity to the moon mission Artemis II has been widely compared too -- 1968's Apollo 8.

That mission -- like Artemis II -- tested out the Apollo systems' abilities to send a crew around the moon and back safely, and passed around the lunar surface on Christmas eve.

Apollo 8's crew took turns reading from the Book of Genesis during a broadcast to Earth, with the view of the lunar surface emerging from the shadows of space visible through the capsule window.

The Artemis II crew captured an updated “Blue Marble” image of Earth, alongside other stunning photos, as they journey toward the moon. This marks the first manned mission beyond low Earth orbit since 1972, with astronauts utilizing an iPhone 17 Pro Max for some shots. The mission is crucial for future lunar returns.

READ MORE

The Artemis astronauts are beginning to see parts of the moon never before viewed through human eyes.

Orientale basin -- a huge impact crater on the far side of the moon -- has come into full view of Artemis II, with the crew beaming back stunning photos showing the formation as they approach the lunar sphere of gravity Sunday.

"In this new image from our @NASAArtemis II crew, you can see Orientale basin on the right edge of the lunar disk," NASA wrote while sharing the photo on X.

"This mission marks the first time the entire basin has been seen with human eyes."

And the crew -- who like all earthlings in history have spent their lives looking up at the same view of the moon -- have begun reflecting on the surreal experience of seeing a whole new side.

“The darker parts just aren’t quite in the right place,” astronaut Christina Koch told NBC News from the Artemis II capsule.

“Something about you senses that is not the moon that I’m used to seeing," she added.

“That is the dark side," she added. "That is something we have never seen before."

Astronauts on board Artemis II reported a mysterious burning smell coming from the $23 million advanced toilet system which previously malfunctioned after takeoff.

“Regarding the smell, I just wanted to make sure you all were tracking the EGS notes of the kind of burning heater smell that was coming from toilet several times,” astronaut Chrisna Koch, who fixed the toilet on Thursday, radioed to mission control on Saturday, Space.com reported.

“It was never identified as the source, what it exactly was, but it was identified as an unknown smell,” Koch said.

The four moon-bound passengers reported the smell was similar to the scent of an old electric heater that hasn’t been used in a while, the report stated.

READ MORE

Now more than halfway to the moon, the Artemis II astronauts were toasted by Canada on Saturday as they prepared for their historic lunar fly-around to push deeper into space than even the Apollo astronauts.

The three Americans and one Canadian will reach their destination Monday, photographing the mysterious lunar far side as they zoom around. It’s the first moonbound crew in more than 53 years, picking up where NASA’s Apollo program left off.

Artemis II was poised to set a distance record for humans, traveling more than 252,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from Earth before hanging a U-turn behind the moon and heading home without stopping or entering lunar orbit. The record is currently held by Apollo 13.

The Canadian Space Agency celebrated the country’s role in the mission, speaking from Quebec with astronaut Jeremy Hansen as he headed toward his lunar rendezvous. Hansen is the first non-U.S. citizen to fly to the moon.

READ MORE

Day 3 of the Artemis II mission to the moon will be “much more relaxed than these first two days,” NASA’s Artemis II ascent flight director, Judd Freiling told reporters Thursday.

Despite the quieter Friday aboard Orion, the crew still has a number of tasks to complete, including exercising and running medical checks, according to NASA’s daily schedule.

Due to the lack of gravity in space, astronauts can lose muscle and bone mass so the Artemis II crew will dedicate 30 minutes a day to exercise throughout their 10-day mission.

Each astronaut will use a flywheel — a small, cable-based device for aerobic exercises like rowing and resistance-based workouts such as squats and deadlifts.

The multi-function exercise device is built directly into the capsule and was initially used as a step to get the crew onboard of Orion on launch day.

On Thursday, Astronauts Wiseman and Glover set up the exercise equipment and were impressed after giving it a go.

"Huge kudos, it works," Wiseman radioed to Mission Control, according to Space.com.

The crew encountered a slight static charge from the flywheel but "aside from that it is a really good piece of gear, and we can actually get a nice workout,” Wiseman said.

NASA released the first images of the Earth from Artemis II's Orion. The stunning images show the vast size of the planet and how far astronauts are from their home.

Astronaut Victor Glover offered a unifying message for people back on Earth.

The crew was asked what message they had for the folks at home during the current, often heated times.

“The first thing I would say is 'Trust us, you look amazing, you look beautiful, and from up here, you also look like one thing',” Glover said. “Homo sapiens is all of us, no matter where you’re from or what you look like.

“We’re all one people.”

Commander Reid Wiseman said the trans-lunar injection burn had “pretty tense moments” before crew member Jeremy Hansen later explained the tension leading up to the maneuver toward the moon was from a cabin leak warning aboard.

“Luckily, it was just a little anomaly,” Hansen said, adding, “We feel good about Integrity, she’s a good ship."

“Space plumber” Christina Koch said the crew was “breathing a sigh of relief” when the Orion’s toilet was fixed without much of an issue after a problem arose shortly after reaching orbit.

“We did originally think there potentially could have been something fouling up the motor and luckily we are all systems go,” she said.

Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen said Thursday he’s as excited as a little kid after launching into space for his first time.

“There has been a tremendous amount of disbelief for me,” he said. “It’s just so extraordinary. I just kept saying to them yesterday, 'I really like it up here.'

“I wish I could have gotten here sooner,” he continued. "It’s just such a tremendous place to be. The views are extraordinary, it’s really fun to be floating around, and it just makes me feel like a little kid.”  

Artemis II astronauts gave shoutouts to their families from outer space during a live interview with reporters late Thursday.

Christina Koch, the first woman to journey around the moon, said the crew hadn’t had the chance to speak with their loved ones back on Earth yet.

“We miss you guys already,” she said.