'Amaze! Amaze! Amaze! Thank you, Reid," Mission Control responded. For those who have read Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary or have seen the film adaptation from Phil Lord and Chris Miller starring Ryan Gosling, this quote was a reference to Rocky, the Eridian alien who helps Ryland Grace attempt to save things we won't spoil here.

Houston mission control flipped their mission patches — a tradition marking Artemis II’s halfway point and journey home. 

(The Center Square) – The astronauts of the Artemis II NASA mission made history just before 2 p.m. Eastern Monday when they traveled farther in their Orion spacecraft from the Earth than any humans have ever flown. The previous record was set by the American spacecraft Apollo 13 in 1970.

The four astronauts completing the Artemis II mission were briefly unable to respond to Mission Control shortly after launch Wednesday, but the error was quickly resolved. (NASA)

The burn was supposed to be the first of the three course correction maneuvers.

As four astronauts whiz toward a flyby of the moon, looking out for them are mission control experts using cutting-edge technology and lessons learned from the Apollo program 50 years ago.

Mission Control announced Thursday that the ship's toilet, which cost around $30 million to produce, is now "go for use" after Houston was able to help the astronauts troubleshoot the problem. The crew will now commence the 10-day mission to send four astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.