'Welcome home, Artemis': Crew celebrates historic 10-day moon mission

Overnight, the Orion spacecraft moved closer to the moon than to Earth, with just over 119,000 miles still to go.

According to NASA, after the first outbound trajectory correction burn was canceled, the crew prepared the cabin for the upcoming lunar observation period and tested Orion’s emergency communications system.

The crew remains asleep now, with a scheduled wake-up around 11:35 a.m. CDT/ 12:35 p.m. EDT to begin Flight Day 4.

-ABC News’ Briana Alvarado

The Artemis II crew is nearly halfway to the moon on Day 3 of the historic mission, NASA said in an update Friday evening.

The crew aboard the Orion spacecraft will take a 685,000-mile journey around the moon, also known as a lunar fly-by, during which they will conduct scientific observations of the moon's surface, NASA said.

During Friday's press conference, NASA leaders gave a preview of the Artemis II crew's upcoming lunar flyby.

On Saturday, the crew will take a selfie of the spacecraft and test some thruster flight modes on Orion.

On Monday, during the six-hour lunar observation period when the crew is on the far side of the moon, the astronauts will be at their closest approach to the lunar surface.

They will be making visual observations as well as photographs and video. The observation period will begin at around 2:30 p.m. ET, NASA said.

The blackout period, when the crew is behind the moon and loses communications with Mission Control, is expected to last about 40 minutes.

When asked if there is reason to worry about the astronauts when they are behind the moon and out of contact with Earth, Judd Frieling, Artemis flight director, said, "Physics takes over and physics will absolutely get us back to the front side of the moon."

-ABC News' Matthew Glasser

During a press conference on Friday, NASA leaders said the Artemis II crew is in "great spirits" and "really excited about the opportunity to be there and what's going on."

Orion's navigation and propulsion systems are performing so well that thew crew will not perform the planned trajectory burn scheduled for this evening, NASA said.

"I think it's really good to see that we don't need these minor correction burns. It shows that our navigation performance and our ability to get ranging has been outstanding," Howard Hu, program manager for the Orion spacecraft, said

On Friday, the astronauts spent some time conducting a "noise characterization" assessment of the toilet's noise levels.

The crew also had time to exercise and did a CPR demonstration. NASA said the astronauts are conducting a medical kit evaluation and will test emergency communications with the Deep Space Network.

-ABC News' Matthew Glasser