NASA’s Artemis II mission successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, marking the start of what could be the first trip humans have made to the moon in 53 years .

The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planet’s brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon .

As of 9 a.m. ET on Friday, April 3, the Artemis II crew is almost 84,000 miles away from Earth, and hurtling through space at 4,417 mph towards the moon, according to NASA's Artemis II tracker.