• Moving the Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket and the Orion Space Capsule from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center to its launch pad takes around 12 hours
• Artemis II is travelling approximately four miles in preparation for its launch
• The launch is expected to happen on 6 February at the earliest - but the Moon also has to be in the right place so Nasa has a set of alternative launch windows in which the 10-day mission could kick off
• This is the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo 17 landed on it in December 1972
• Four crew members are set to be on board: commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency's mission specialist Jeremy Hansen
• Artemis II is not scheduled to land on the Moon but will instead lay the ground for a lunar landing by astronauts launching with the Artemis III mission - but this will happen "no earlier than 2027", Nasa says

Pallab Ghosh and Alison Francis
Science Correspondent and Senior Science Journalist

Several other countries have ambitions to put people on the Moon in the 2030s.​

European astronauts are set to join later Artemis missions and Japan has also secured seats.

China is building its own craft, targeting a first landing near the Moon's south pole by 2030.

Russia continues to talk about flying cosmonauts to the surface and building a small base sometime between about 2030 and 2035. However, sanctions, funding pressures and technical setbacks mean its timetable is highly optimistic.

India has also expressed ambitions to one day see its own astronauts walking on the Moon.

Following the success of Chandrayaan 3's landing near the lunar south pole in August 2023, India's space agency set out a goal of sending astronauts to the Moon by about 2040. This would be part of a push to move its human spaceflight programme beyond low Earth orbit.

Image source, Nasa Johnson Space Center/Josh Valcarcel/REUTERS

Artemis II's crew of four includes Nasa commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch. A second mission specialist, Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, will also be on board.

• Wiseman is a Navy veteran, pilot and engineer, and has previously served aboard the International Space Station. He is widowed and despite a distinguished career as an astronaut, considers his time as an only parent to be his "greatest challenge and the most rewarding phase" of his life
• Glover was selected as a Nasa astronaut in 2013. He has previously served as the pilot of Nasa's SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 64. He will be the first black person to go to the Moon
• Koch decided to become an astronaut after seeing a picture of the Earth taken by Bill Anders, a crew member of the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. She became an astronaut in 2013 and has served on board the International Space Station. In 2019 she participated in the first all-female spacewalk
• Hansen was also inspired by the astronauts on Apollo 8. He was a fighter pilot, physicist and aquanaut before joining the Canadian Space Agency in 2009. This will be the first time Hansen has been in space. He is also set to become the first non-American to go to the Moon

Pallab Ghosh and Alison Francis
Science Correspondent and Senior Science Journalist

Image source, ISRO HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Several other countries have ambitions to put people on the Moon in the 2030s.​

European astronauts are set to join later Artemis missions and Japan has also secured seats.

China is building its own craft, targeting a first landing near the Moon's south pole by 2030.

Russia continues to talk about flying cosmonauts to the surface and building a small base sometime between about 2030 and 2035. However, sanctions, funding pressures and technical setbacks mean its timetable is highly optimistic.

India has also expressed ambitions to one day see its own astronauts walking on the Moon.

Following the success of Chandrayaan 3's landing near the lunar south pole in August 2023, India's space agency set out a goal of sending astronauts to the Moon by about 2040.

Pallab Ghosh and Alison Francis
Science correspondent and senior science journalist

Image source, Reuters

If all systems are go, the earliest possible launch date for Artemis II is Friday 6 February. As well as the rocket being ready, the Moon has to be in the right place too, so successive launch windows are selected accordingly.

In practice, this means one week at the beginning of each month during which the rocket is pointed in the right direction followed by three weeks where there are no launch opportunities.

The potential launch dates are:

• 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 February
• 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11 March
• 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 April

Pallab Ghosh and Alison Francis
Science correspondent and senior science journalist

Image source, NASA

The last crewed Moon mission was Apollo 17, which landed in December 1972 and returned to Earth later that month.

In all, 24 astronauts have travelled to the Moon and 12 of them have walked on its surface, all during the Apollo programme.

America first went in the 1960s, primarily to beat the Soviet Union to assert its geopolitical and technological dominance. Once that goal was achieved, political enthusiasm and public interest ebbed, as did the money for future Moonshots.

The Artemis programme grew out of a desire to return humans to the Moon, but this time for a longer-term presence built around new technology and commercial partnerships.

Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

We've just heard from crew of Artemis II, here are the key takeaways:

• Nasa Commander Reid Wiseman says when he looks at the rocket he sees "teamwork", adding that the crew have been working on this mission for over two years
• The crew is "ready to go", Wiseman says, as they await the launch - which will be 6 February at the earliest
• When pushed on the exact date of the launch, Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman says he has "zero intention of communicating an actual launch date"

• "Discovery and the knowledge that we bring back to earth" is the “entire point” of the operation, says mission specialist Christina Koch

• "We’ve got the easiest job… it’s our families that we think about the most on launch day," Wiseman says
• Pilot Victor Glover is taking his Bible and an "heirloom for each of my daughters and wife" on the 10-day mission, while mission specialist Jeremy Hansen will take "four moon pendants" that he gave to his wife and three children two years ago

The rocket continues to inch closer to the launch pad but is still some hours off reaching its destination - you can follow its movements at the top of this page.

We can now bring you a video update on the Artemis II rocket's four-mile journey towards the launch pad.

As a reminder, today's move is part of the preparations ahead of its launch - which is not expected to take place until 6 February at the earliest.

Pallab Ghosh and Alison Francis
Science correspondent and senior science journalist

No, this mission is to lay the ground for a lunar landing by astronauts in the Artemis III mission.

Nasa says the launch of Artemis III will take place "no earlier than" 2027. But, experts believe 2028 is the earliest possible date.

When Artemis III finally flies, the astronauts will be heading to the Moon's south pole. After that mission, the aim is to have a sustained human presence.

Artemis IV and V will begin building Gateway, a small space station circling the Moon.

That will be followed by more Moon landings, extra sections being added to Gateway, and new robotic rovers operating on the surface.

More countries are expected to be involved in keeping people living and working on and around the Moon for longer periods.

We're now seeing images of the rocket leaving Nasa's Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida.

It will now begin its four mile journey to the launch pad.

In the video above, you can see a timelapse of the first 10 minutes of its journey - and you can follow along with its current movements by clicking watch live above.

Image source, Reuters

Pallab Ghosh and Alison Francis
Science correspondent and senior science journalist

Image source, NASA

Lift-off won't happen until 6 February at the earliest, but that only marks the beginning of the mission.

Once they are safely in orbit, the astronauts will test how the Orion spacecraft handles. This will involve manually flying the capsule in Earth orbit to practise steering and lining up the spacecraft for future Moon landings.

They will then head out to a point thousands of kilometres beyond the Moon to check Orion's life‑support, propulsion, power and navigation systems.

The crew will also act as medical test subjects, sending back data and imagery from deep space.

They will work in a small cabin in weightlessness. Radiation levels will be higher than on the International Space Station, which is in low‑Earth orbit, but still safe.

On return to Earth, the astronauts will experience a bumpy return through the atmosphere and a splashdown off the west coast of the US, in the Pacific.

Image source, NASA

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman has previously told the press that his spacecraft will fly over large areas of the Moon that previous Apollo missions have never mapped.

He says the crew will see things "that no human has ever seen".

Mission specialist Christina Koch explained that the astronauts will be able to study the lunar surface in exquisite detail for a full three hours.

"Believe it or not, human eyes are one of the best scientific instruments that we have," she says.

"We've been training how to turn those observations into answering some of the biggest questions of our time, questions like: 'Are we alone?'" she adds.

"We can answer that by going to Mars in the future, and this mission can be the first step in bringing that answer back to team humanity."

Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, X/Nasa

A Nasa spaceship that will carry astronauts around the moon for the first time in five decades is set to be transported to its launch pad today - watch live above.

The gigantic Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket and Orion Space Capsule will journey from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a launch pad around four miles (6.4km) away.

The operation is expected to take around 12 hours.

This rocket, part of the Artemis II mission, is not set to launch into space until 6 February at the earliest.

The 10-day mission could take its astronauts further into space than anyone has been before. It aims to set the stage for an eventual human landing on the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s.

Yesterday, Nasa posted on X: "Ready to roll!"

We won't be bringing you regular text updates on this page, but our next few posts will take you through what you need to know.

Image source, Nasa/Ben Smegelsky