The Artemis II astronauts have captured our blue planets brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon.NASA released the crews first downlinked images Friday, 1 1/2 days into the first astronaut moonshot in more than hal f a century. The first photo taken by commander Reid Wiseman shows a curved slice of Earth in one of the capsules windows. The second shows the entire globe with the oceans topped by swirling white tendrils of clouds. A green aurora even glows, according to NASA.RELATED STORY | One stinky problem: Artemis II launch hits toilet trouble in orbitAs of midmorning Friday, Wiseman and his crew were 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) from Earth and were quickly gaining on the moon with another 160,000 miles (258,000 kilometers) to go. They should reach their destination on Monday.The three Americans and one Canadian will swing around the moon in their Orion capsule, hang a U-turn and then head straight back home without stopping. They fired Orion's main engine Thursday night that set them on their course.After Mission Control shifted the position of their capsule, the entire Earth, complete with northern lights, filled their windows.It was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks, Wiseman said in a TV interview.They're the first lunar travelers since Apollo 17 in 1972. ...read more read less