As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence, NASA said the Artemis II mission has carried a collection of historic mementos. Among them was a flag originally designated

NASA's Artemis II crew prepares for a historic lunar flyby aboard the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket, traveling farther into space than any humans since Apollo.

Lunar love knows no bounds. Artemis II's astronauts took a poignant page from Apollo 8 earlier this week, proposing deeply personal names for a pair of lunar craters.

Artemis II has already cleared the mission phases that John Honeycutt, manager of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket program, highlighted in March as the most treacherous- ascent, an Earth orbit raise maneuver, and the final translunar injection burn sending Integrity on a figure eight-shaped trajectory around the moon and back.

Artemis II will carry astronauts beyond the moon using a free-return path and new spacecraft systems, marking a different approach from Apollo missions, according to NASA and Space.com.

Jim Head helped train Apollo astronauts and select lunar landing sites for the missions.

The Artemis II mission represents the first time astronauts have launched beyond low Earth orbit since 1972.

Tonight, the Artemis astronauts on board their Orion spacecraft are speeding towards Earth for their dangerous re-entry and splash landing. NBC News’ Tom Costello has more on their final preps and the timeline for Orion’s return.