The NASA says its Artemis II crew is now well past the halfway mark to the moon, with the Orion spacecraft steadily approaching a scheduled flyby set for Monday afternoon.

By the agency’s latest update, the spacecraft has traveled more than two-thirds of the distance to the lunar surface. The mission, still in its early operational phase, has begun shifting from transit checks to more focused flight testing as it nears one of its most closely watched milestones.

The flyby is expected to begin at 2:45 p.m. on April 6, when Orion’s main cabin windows will be oriented toward the moon. That alignment is intended to give the crew a direct view of the surface during the six-hour pass, while also supporting planned observation work.

On Saturday, mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen took manual control of the spacecraft for a series of controlled tests. Over a 41-minute period, they evaluated two thruster modes and practiced maneuvering across both six degrees of freedom and three degrees of freedom.

The exercises, according to NASA’s mission updates, are designed to expand engineers’ understanding of Orion’s handling in deep space conditions. The data gathered will be used to refine piloting performance and system response as the mission progresses.

The broader flight timeline has unfolded in measured stages. After completing an initial day in Earth orbit to verify onboard systems, Orion was propelled out toward the moon, covering roughly 244,000 miles. The flyby will mark the spacecraft’s most distant point from Earth, extending about 5,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon before it begins its return.

NASA’s lunar science team has also provided the crew with a list of surface features to photograph and study during the flyby. Those observations are expected to form part of the mission’s scientific output, alongside the technical testing already underway.

Following the lunar pass, Orion will rely on a free-return trajectory, using gravitational forces to guide it back toward Earth. The mission is set to conclude with reentry and a Pacific Ocean splashdown, echoing earlier human spaceflight recoveries.

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For now, attention remains fixed on the hours ahead, as the spacecraft closes in on the moon and the crew prepares for a brief but significant encounter with its surface.