Humans are due to head back towards the Moon for the first time in more than half a century, as four astronauts prepare for the NASA Artemis 2 UK launch at 11:24 pm, with viewers able to watch the lift-off live from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Riding atop the Space Launch System rocket in the Orion capsule, the crew face a 10-day, 685,000-mile mission that will send them thousands of miles beyond the Moon before looping back to Earth.
The news came after years of delays, redesigns and political wrangling over NASA's Artemis programme, created to succeed the Apollo era and re-establish a long-term human presence around the Moon.
