Artemis II manned orbital Moon mission about to launch
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Successful launch for Artemis II
The ground shakes as the huge American rocket - the most powerful rocket ever constructed - blasts off taking humanity to the Moon for the first time in 54 years.
Cheers rang out at Cape Canaveral in Florida as the mighty spacecraft reached over 1200mph in mere seconds.
The four astronauts are to orbit the Moon and become the furthest humans away from Earth in history in a mission to pave the way for humans to walk on the Moon once again....
The ground shakes as the huge American rocket - the most powerful rocket ever constructed - blasts off taking humanity to the Moon for the first time in 54 years.
Cheers rang out at Cape Canaveral in Florida as the mighty spacecraft reached over 1200mph in mere seconds.
The four astronauts are to orbit the Moon and become the furthest humans away from Earth in history in a mission to pave the way for humans to walk on the Moon once again....
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"Vibrations in my chest!"
Mission is to pave way for humans to walk on the Moon again.... and to walk on Mars
Sky News correspondent Thomas Moore watches Artemis II launch as humanity goes to the Moon once again.
Even from such a distance he could feel reverberations within him...
Mission is to pave way for humans to walk on the Moon again.... and to walk on Mars
Sky News correspondent Thomas Moore watches Artemis II launch as humanity goes to the Moon once again.
Even from such a distance he could feel reverberations within him...
A photograph of our planet from the Orion crew as they head to the far side of the Moon.
After completing an engine thrust which greatly increased their speed and slingshotted them out of Earth's orbit around midnight UK time last night the four astronauts are expected to reach the Moon's orbit on Monday.
They have become the first people to leave Earth's orbit since 1972.
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The Moon is further from Earth than probably most people think it is.
You could fit the other seven planets in the Solar System between Earth and the Moon.
You could fit the other seven planets in the Solar System between Earth and the Moon.
That would depend on when they went to school. Us old folks had questions like that on tests. Today tests ask which colour card gets to speak first.
Breaking News
Artemis II crew breaks record for the furthest humans have ever travelled from Earth
The Artemis II crew has broken the record for the furthest distance humans have travelled from Earth.
The record was previously set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 - the crew travelled 248,655 miles from Earth.
Artemis II will beat this record by about 4,102 miles, reaching a maximum distance of 252,757 miles.
We're expecting to hear from the crew on their reaction shortly.
www.bbc.co.uk
Artemis II crew breaks record for the furthest humans have ever travelled from Earth
The Artemis II crew has broken the record for the furthest distance humans have travelled from Earth.
The record was previously set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 - the crew travelled 248,655 miles from Earth.
Artemis II will beat this record by about 4,102 miles, reaching a maximum distance of 252,757 miles.
We're expecting to hear from the crew on their reaction shortly.
Artemis II live: Watch as Artemis astronauts travel further from Earth than any humans before
The astronauts lost connection with Nasa for 40 minutes as they passed behind the Moon and will soon witness a total solar eclipse.
www.bbc.co.uk
Artemis II - carrying the four loneliest humans in history - is just over four hours away from the far side of the Moon.
The spacecraft will spend three hours flying over the Moon's far side during which the crew will take spectacular photos and make spectacular sketches.
For forty minutes the Moon will block all communications with Earth.
The spacecraft will spend three hours flying over the Moon's far side during which the crew will take spectacular photos and make spectacular sketches.
For forty minutes the Moon will block all communications with Earth.
Artemis II crew challenges next generation 'to make sure this record is not long-lived'
On breaking the Apollo 13 record, one of the Artemis astronauts says: "We surpass the furthest distance humans have ever travelled from planet earth. We do so in honouring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration."We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything we hold dear."
He challenges this generation and the next "to make sure this record is not long-lived".
Crew names Moon crater after Artemis II commander's late wife
The crew hugged after commander Reid Wiseman emotionally described which crater he wanted to name after his late wife
Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman tells Nasa's Kelsey Young that the crew would like to name some craters on the Moon that they can currently see "both with our naked eye and with our long lens".
He asks Nasa to name one after his late wife, Carroll, who died in 2020 of cancer.
They name another crater Integrity - after the Orion spacecraft which has carried them to the far side of the Moon.
"A number of years ago we started this journey.. and we lost a loved one and there's a feature on a really neat place on the moon... at certain times of the Moon's transit around Earth we will be able to see this from Earth," he says.
Jim Lovell, an astronaut in the Apollo 8 and 13 missions who had prerecorded a message for the Artemis crew before he died last year, also named a crater after his late wife, Marilyn, in 1968.
Crew is more than 240,000 miles from Earth
Kelsey Young from mission control says the crew is 248,655 miles (400,171 km) from Earth. They will reach their furthest distance around 18:07 central time (22:07 GMT)."At that time they will be in an LOS or a loss of signal with us on Earth as they'll be flying behind the Moon," she adds.
Artemis II live: Watch as Artemis astronauts travel further from Earth than any humans before
The astronauts lost connection with Nasa for 40 minutes as they passed behind the Moon and will soon witness a total solar eclipse.
www.bbc.co.uk
Artemis II approaches far side of the Moon
Commander Reid Wiseman, leading the Artemis mission, has been giving an update of the view that his crew is seeing from the spacecraft's window.
"The Earth is a small crescent out there. It's magnificent. I got a picture of it...such a majestic view out here," he says.
www.bbc.co.uk
'The Earth is a small crescent' - Wiseman
Commander Reid Wiseman, leading the Artemis mission, has been giving an update of the view that his crew is seeing from the spacecraft's window.
"The Earth is a small crescent out there. It's magnificent. I got a picture of it...such a majestic view out here," he says.
Lunar observations starting soon
We've just been hearing from the Artemis crew, who say they are ready to begin the lunar observation period in around 13 minutes.
Artemis II live: Watch as Artemis astronauts travel further from Earth than any humans before
The astronauts lost connection with Nasa for 40 minutes as they passed behind the Moon and will soon witness a total solar eclipse.
www.bbc.co.uk
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The astronauts are expected to take a photo of Earth from the far side of the Moon similar to the iconic one taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders on Christmas Eve 1968.
Out here in the garden right now the Sun is setting on a beautiful spring evening. I can't see the Moon but I can see Venus.
If the astronauts take a photo of the Earth from the far side of the Moon it will show Asia, Africa and Oceania.
Out here in the garden right now the Sun is setting on a beautiful spring evening. I can't see the Moon but I can see Venus.
If the astronauts take a photo of the Earth from the far side of the Moon it will show Asia, Africa and Oceania.
- The lunar observation period has begun and will continue for around seven hours
- Shortly before 23:44 BST (18:44 EDT; 22:44 GMT), mission control is expecting to temporarily lose communication with the crew, as the Orion spacecraft passes behind the Moon
- Not long after this, the astronauts will make their closest approach to the Moon
- The crew will reach its furthest point from Earth at 00:07 BST (23:07 GMT; 19:07 EDT). At this distance, the Moon will look like the size of a basketball held at arm’s length
- Around 20 or so minutes after this, Nasa's Mission Control Center should be able to reestablish communication with the astronauts
Artemis II live: Watch as Artemis astronauts travel further from Earth than any humans before
The astronauts lost connection with Nasa for 40 minutes as they passed behind the Moon and will soon witness a total solar eclipse.
www.bbc.co.uk
Astronauts Wiseman and Hansen taking photos of Moon
We've just been hearing from the Nasa Mission Control Center, which has been sharing insight into what the astronauts are currently observing on the Moon.Mission control says commander Reid Wiseman and astronaut Jeremy Hansen have been at windows two and three on the Orion spacecraft. One has been taking photos and the other has been making observations and making annotations.
"At this time, we also anticipate they are looking at a crater duo," mission control says.
Artemis II live: Watch as Artemis astronauts travel further from Earth than any humans before
The astronauts lost connection with Nasa for 40 minutes as they passed behind the Moon and will soon witness a total solar eclipse.
www.bbc.co.uk
Nasa releases images of the Moon taken by crew - including part of the far side
The crew of the Artemis II mission have been sharing photographs of the Moon taken from on board the spacecraft.
Nasa says the below picture shows part of the far side of the moon.
The near side - the hemisphere we see from Earth - is visible on the right-hand-side in the photograph and is "identifiable by the dark splotches that cover its surface", Nasa says.
It adds: "These are ancient lava flows from a time early in the Moon’s history when it was volcanically active.
"The large crater west of the lava flows is Orientale Basin, a nearly 600-mile-wide crater that straddles the Moon’s near and far sides. Orientale's left half is not visible from Earth, but in this image we have a full view of the crater.
"Everything to the left of the crater is the far side, the hemisphere we don’t get to see from Earth."
Artemis II live: Watch as Artemis astronauts travel further from Earth than any humans before
The astronauts lost connection with Nasa for 40 minutes as they passed behind the Moon and will soon witness a total solar eclipse.
www.bbc.co.uk
Grey, green and brown - the colours the astronauts are seeing on the Moon's surface
Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman looks out the window of the Orion spacecraft at the Moon
In a "sit-rep" (situational report), astronaut Jeremy Hansen describes what it's like looking at the Moon.
"My eyes just now readjusted - the Moon is so bright when you come back to the window. I was in the interior of the cabin, I've come back to [the] window now."
He describes the colours he can see on the Moon's surface - including the darker and lighter greys that we are used to seeing.
He adds: "Right now, Aristarchus (a crater)... is hard for me to see from this window but that had greenish hues to me. It was very unique, I didn't see anything else like that anywhere else on this side of the Moon.
"And then I saw a lot of what i would call brownish hues."
Artemis II live: Watch as Artemis astronauts travel further from Earth than any humans before
The astronauts lost connection with Nasa for 40 minutes as they passed behind the Moon and will soon witness a total solar eclipse.
www.bbc.co.uk