Esme Stallard
Science reporter

Image source, NASA

A significant risk on this journey is that the spacecraft loses contact with mission control (and loved ones).

“Reliable communications are the lifeline of human spaceflight,” says Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator for the communications and navigation program at NASA Headquarters.

Whilst in Earth’s orbit Orion is using the Near Space Network. It is a system of 40 satellites on Earth owned by various governments and private organisations, and satellites over the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans which are in a synchronised orbit.

Overnight when Orion begins on its path to the Moon the crew will switch to using the Deep Space Network as the primary way to talk to mission control.

It is a series of giant radio antennas which are located in California, Spain and Australia.

You can see live which antennas are talking to the Orion spacecraft right now, external.

But there will be a 41-minute blackout when the spacecraft reaches the far side of the Moon as the radio signals to the Earth are blocked.

Image source, Reuters

The Artemis II astronauts have entered their second flight day of a planned 10-day mission that will take them around the Moon - and further into space than humans have ever been.

More than 23 hours since the launch on Wednesday, the spacecraft has travelled around Earth and is now waiting for a final decision on whether a trans-lunar injection burn can go ahead - this will propel them out of our planet's orbit and on their trajectory towards the Moon.

That burn is currently scheduled to take place at 19:49 EDT (23:49 GMT).

The Mission Management Team has said yes - but the final decision lies with the flight controllers at Houston.

If all goes to plan, the burn will last for just under six minutes. The crew should then reach the far side of the Moon on Monday 6 April and, although not landing on it, will enjoy a sight never before seen by human eyes.

The crew's menu is far from limited - during their 10-day mission, the four astronauts will have the choice of a variety of food types and drinks.

Barbequed beef brisket, candy-coated almonds and five different types of hot sauces are among menu items available for the crew, Nasa says.

They’re also equipped with 43 cups of coffee, 58 tortillas and more than 10 different beverages.

In total, 189 menu items have been chosen and are based on a range of factors including nutritional requirements, crew preference and what the spacecraft can accommodate.

Astronauts will have scheduled breakfast, lunch and dinner times throughout the mission and can have two flavoured drinks per day.

Image source, Reuters

Former US President Barack Obama says it was "inspiring" to watch the Artemis II launch yesterday.

"Our space program has always captured an essential part of what it means to reach beyond what we thought was possible," he writes in a post on X.

"I hope the four brave astronauts on this mission will inspire a new generation to follow in their footsteps."

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor, reporting from Florida

The Mission Management Team have voted "go" for the critical engine burn that will push the Orion spacecraft towards the Moon.

But this is not the final decision - that will be made by the flight controllers at mission control in Houston.

They need to give that final “go” before the spacecraft is set on course for our celestial neighbour.

The team at Nasa needs to make sure they are completely happy with how the spacecraft is performing before they commit to this crucial manoeuvre.

Once they are on the way to the Moon, it's very difficult to turn back - and would only happen in the event of a big emergency.

Image source, NASA

The astronauts are up now up and awake following their rest period and have held their morning conference with mission control back on the ground.

Among other updates shared between the Earth and the Orion capsule, the crew have passed on readings on pressure and CO2 levels.

They were also asked about the temperature of the cabin - earlier the four-person crew had complained about being cold up there.

But that’s no longer the case: "The consensus from the crew is no colder than this - we love it in here right now,” is the message from Orion.

Now they're up and ready for flight day two, the crew will follow the agenda set for the day.

According to the plan, Commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover will begin by getting their first workouts of the mission on Orion’s flywheel exercise machine.

Image source, NASA

The astronauts will each use it for 30 minutes of resistance and cardiovascular training each day to help counter the physical effects of being in space.

The crew can use the device for rowing, squats, deadlifts and adjust the resistance levels as needed.

The other two crew members - mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen - will also use the machine later today.

Nasa says the morning workouts will provide another test of the capsule's life support systems before the planned leaving of Earth orbit in a few hours.

A reminder, the capsule is only about 5m wide and 3m high.

The Artemis II crew are now on their second flight day, Nasa says, Here's a glance at what's ahead in the next few hours:

• Commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover will begin their day setting up Orion’s exercise equipment - all the astronauts will then complete a 30-minute workout on the flywheel each day of the mission
• The main event of the day is the trans-lunar injection burn - the last major engine firing which will set the spacecraft towards the Moon. Astronaut Christina Koch will spend the next few hours preparing for this
• But before that can happen, Nasa has to decide if the next phase of the mission - heading towards the Moon - is go or no go. We'll bring you the latest on that when we have it
• The crew are also expected to send the first of several video communications back to Earth

Back to the mission control room in Houston for an update.

The Artemis II crew have now begun their post-sleep procedures, Nasa says.

The mission is now more than 20 hours in and has begun flight day two.

Sofia Ferreira Santos
Live reporter

We've just heard a little snippet of a song played to the crew - Green Light by John Legend and featuring André 3000.

The song is part of a playlist the crew have personally selected to wake them after each sleep.

They also heard some messages from the Nasa team, wishing them a safe trip.

Repeating the lyrics, one of the crew said: "We are ready to go. That was awesome, thank you for all of those messages."

We heard the appropriately titled Sleepyhead by Young & Sick wake them from an earlier rest in the mission.

Nasa says the tradition of personalised wake-up music dates back to the Apollo era.

We're hearing from Nasa that the astronauts have just woken up from what has been around a four-and-a-half hour rest period.

As we reported previously, the crew will be resting in periods of approximately this length throughout.

Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

This mission will see the crew attempt to fly around the Moon’s far side - the side we cannot see from Earth.

Pink Floyd fans might be asking if such a thing actually exists. After all, the British rock band released their seminal Dark Side of the Moon album in 1973.

So, I asked two scientists that very question.

“There absolutely is a dark side of the Moon, but it changes all the time, just like there's a dark side of the Earth at night,” says Libby Jackson, head of space at the Science Museum in London. “We see some bits of the dark side because we see the crescent changing.”

“People often confuse the far side and the dark side… We never see the far side of the Moon. And that's because the Moon is what is called tidally locked to the earth,” Jackson says.

Scientist and TV presenter Bill Nye, also known as "the Science Guy", tells me the far side of the Moon can be “very strongly illuminated”.

“It is very brightly lit by direct sunlight with no atmosphere to slow it down,” he says.

Image source, Joel Kowsky/PA

When Artemis II blasted into space, it became the latest step in Nasa's programme aiming to return humans to the Moon, which began with the launch of Artemis I in November 2022.

Termed an "uncrewed lunar flight test", the Orion spacecraft travelled 1.4 million miles and spent 25 days in space before splashing back down on Earth on 11 December 2022.

As Artemis I was a test flight, the Orion spacecraft's crew was made up of human-sized mannequins. They were fitted with sensors to measure what stresses, strains and potential radiation would greet future astronauts travelling to space.

After journeying to the Moon, the spacecraft flew twice around the Earth's only natural satellite, orbiting around 80 miles (130km) above its surface before continuing into deep space.

On its return to Earth, Artemis I also tested the Orion spacecraft's heat shield to ensure it can withstand temperatures up to 2,760C (5000F) on re-entry - vital for protecting the four astronauts on board Artemis II.

Esme Stallard
Science reporter

We have just heard on the live Nasa feed from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston that the mission management team are due to meet shortly for a go/no go meeting.

In this meeting, they will decide whether to proceed with this trans-lunar injection burn we have been speaking about.

All systems have to be working, and the Orion capsule has to be at the right orientation and in exactly the correct position in its orbit for this to happen.

If they decide to go, there is no changing their minds (without great difficulty).

The crews are putting their trust in physics to get them to the right place and home again.

Esme Stallard
Science reporter

All the moves that the teams have gone through today have been to line up for the trans-lunar injection burn, effectively the massive thrust that will set the Orion on the precise pathway that will slingshot the spacecraft round the far side of the Moon and back to Earth.

Nasa have now updated their timings to say that will happen slightly earlier at 19:49 EDT (23:49 GMT).

It will last a precise five minutes 51 seconds, sending the spacecraft out of low-Earth orbit.

Esme Stallard
Science reporter

We've heard from Nasa's administrator, Jared Isaacman, who has posted an update on social media.

"Artemis II astronauts are doing great," he says. "The Orion spacecraft is performing well in an impressive elliptical orbit."

He adds that the mission control team back at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston is "taking good care of the crew".

Isaacman is an American billionaire nominated by Trump to lead Nasa and has been in charge for just a few months. He went to space himself in 2021 on a commercial mission operated by Space X.

Jenna Moon
Live editor (no relation)

Nasa has sent astronauts on a mission towards the Moon for the first time in more than half a century.

It's an astonishing moment - but whether the crew will actually make its way to our nearest neighbour still remains to be seen.

Earlier today, we heard the team aboard the Orion spacecraft performing a crucial perigee raise burn, a process that helps ready the capsule for travel.

At around 00:00 GMT (01:00 BST; 20:00 EDT), we should learn a bit more about whether the trans-lunar injection burn - a process that fires the engines and starts to propel the Orion towards the Moon - will take place.

For the last few hours, the crew - Commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, alongside pilot Victor Glover - have been getting some much-needed rest, and the next part of the mission is due to start shortly.

When they wake, they will likely eat, turn up the heat, and - we assume - use the loo, despite some issues with the bathroom system earlier.

Stay with us - we're continuing to follow the Artemis II mission as it attempts to set course for deep space and the far side of the Moon.

Blanca Estrada
Live reporter

Image source, Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Before the Orion’s launch, I spoke with Dr Voula Saridakis, head curator of Collections and Archives at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

She tells me the four astronauts on board have taken historical artifacts from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC with them on this mission.

One of the things they have with them is a tiny piece of fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer - the first ever powered aircraft to take to fly.

The fabric is known as the "Pride of the West" muslin. The astronauts are carrying this piece of fabric because, as Dr Saridakis explains, it has special meaning to the history of aviation and of space exploration.

One other thing that they have on board is the American flag that was intended for the Apollo 18 mission.

That mission never flew because of congressional budget cuts, reduced public interest and a shift toward the Skylab programme - the United States’ first space station.

Esme Stallard
Science reporter

Image source, Reuters

Should the Artemis II mission go according to plan, the Orion spacecraft, which will carry the astronauts around the Moon, will be recovered from the Pacific Ocean once it splashes down.

But the other components will not be recovered this time around. Nasa says each launch costs $4bn (£3.021bn).

The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has two boosters which provide 80% of the thrust. Less than 10 minutes after lift-off, they splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.

The interim cryogenic propulsion stage then provided two boosts to the spacecraft. That detached about three and a half hours in and re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean.

Chief engineer of Nasa’s SLS, Dr John Blevins, told the BBC’s 13 minutes presents: Artemis II podcast that the boosters had been modified from previous Space Shuttle missions, but the organisation chose not to recover them this time to increase the chances of success.

“You really spend a lot of money, [and] you also lose performance when you do re-usability,” he said.

“And this machine and this mission needed all the performance we can get. So, parachutes and recovery systems, they weigh a lot, and we wanted to make sure what we did for this mission was return to the moon.”

The Artemis programme eventual aim is to return to the Moon every year and then on to Mars, this he said, will require re-usability to be introduced.

You can read more on the pollution caused by rocket launches here.

Pallab Ghosh and Alison Francis
Science correspondent and science reporter

Image source, NASA

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

In total, 24 astronauts have travelled to the Moon with half of those walking on its surface, all during the Apollo programme.

Of those 24 to have visited the Moon, just five are still alive.

The United States 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.