Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, NASA has been looking for ways to return back to the moon. In 2022, the space agency launched the Artemis 1 moon mission, an uncrewed spacecraft that laid the foundations for the missions coming after it.

NASA has begun rolling out a rocket in its mission to take astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

Thousands of space centre workers and their families gathered in the pre-dawn chill to witness the long-awaited event, delayed for years.