Artemis II and its crew aboard the Orion spacecraft are more than halfway to the moon and preparing for a lunar flyby on Monday, NASA said.

The full moon happens about once a month. Find out when.

The Artemis II astronauts, after saying goodbye to family and friends, were strapped into their seats aboard the Orion spacecraft by early afternoon, hours before the launch window opened at 6:24 p.m. Eastern time. As the astronauts sat, NASA continued with checks to ensure the safety of the crew before liftoff.

It's the Full Moon tonight.

NASA now believes there could be hundreds of billions of gallons of water on the moon. According to one theory a collision 4.5 billion years ago between the early Earth and a Mars-sized planet called Theia spun off the Moon and deposited large amounts of water. That is likely have been topped up by water-bearing asteroids and meteors.

New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a major overhaul of the agency's Artemis moon program Friday, acknowledging that the agency's plan to land astronauts on the moon in 2028 was not realistic without another preparatory mission first to lay the ...

After a day of testing the Orion capsule high above the planet, the crew of the NASA mission became the first people to head into deep space since 1972. Katrina Miller Reporting from Johnson Space Center in Houston. Astronauts are officially headed to the ...

Track the progress of the Artemis II mission with the latest updates and news from the historic mission to the moon's orbit.