The Artemis II crew has reached the far side of the moon and has entered a communications blackout, NASA said.

The federal space agency said the communications blackout is planned and should last for about 40 minutes as Orion passes behind the moon.

The moon blocks the radio signals needed for Mission Control to maintain contact with Orion via the Deep Space Network, which is NASA's international array of giant radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions.

NASA has said the Artemis II crew will now make its closest approach to the moon at 7:00 p.m. ET and will reach its furthest distance from Earth at 7:02 p.m. ET.

Previously, the crew was supposed to make its closest approach at 7:02 p.m. ET and reach maximum distance from the Earth at 7:07 p.m. ET.

-ABC News' Briana Alvarado

The Artemis II crew's historic lunar flyby began around 2:45 p.m. ET.

The flyby, which should take around seven hours, will see the Orion spacecraft be close enough to the moon for the crew "to make detailed observations of geologic features on the lunar surface," according to NASA.

NASA said coverage will include live views of the moon taken by cameras that are mounted on Orion's solar arrays.

As the Artemis II astronauts broke the record for the farthest distance traveled by humans from Earth, they received a special message from Mission Control.

The Capsule Communicator, or CAPCOM -- which is the go-between for the astronauts and Mission Control -- recalled the previous record set by the Apollo 13 crew.

"Today, for all humanity, you're pushing beyond that frontier. Integrity, over to you," Mission Control stated.

Canadian Space Agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen shared a message on behalf of the Artemis II crew, honoring the astronauts that came before them.

"We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear," Hansen said. "But we, most importantly, choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long lived."

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