On Monday, the Orion spacecraft was moved between buildings at Florida's Kennedy Space Center ahead of being lifted on to the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

For its upcoming flight, Orion will fly around the Moon without astronauts.

The Orion vehicle that will be used on the Artemis-1 mission was transferred to the famous cuboid Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy.

It was being housed at another facility on the same site, where engineers had attached the spacecraft's launch abort system, designed to propel Orion and its astronauts away from the rocket if an emergency occurs during a crewed launch.

The three-week Artemis-1 mission will test the SLS and Orion before astronauts are allowed aboard for Artemis-2, which will loop around the Moon in late 2023.

Artemis-3 will see astronauts land on the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Nasa has selected Elon Musk's Starship as the vehicle that will carry humans down from lunar orbit to the surface.

The landing mission is currently scheduled for 2024, though many observers expect that date to slip.

The metal frame for the Orion spacecraft that will be used for that mission also arrived at Kennedy Space Center earlier this month.

The Artemis-3 mission will carry the first woman to walk on the surface, along with the next man.