Moon astronauts get first look at craft that will take them there

The four astronauts set to fly around the moon next year got their first in-person look at the spacecraft that will take them there this week.

During a visit to Kennedy Space Centre, the crew inspected the unfinished Orion capsule that will carry them on the Artemis 2 mission.

Astronaut Christina Koch said, after seeing the capsule with its own eyes for the first time, "Nothing else looks like that...that's what gave me shivers."

NASA has warned more delays are possible as engineers work to complete the spacecraft.

The Artemis 2 mission will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back, the first crewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

Koch will be joined by NASA astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman.

It is the first lunar trip by astronauts in more than half a century.

Glover said, “It's clear that we have a lot of work to do.”

Read more: Astronomers find closest black hole to Earth

Koch is the first woman astronaut ever on a lunar mission and Victor Glover is the first black Astronaut.

Artemis II will not land on the moon – but a mission in 2025 will, 50 years after the Apollo missions.

Eventually NASA hopes to establish a base on the moon.

It’s all part of NASA’s plan to put the first woman on the moon, with NASA estimating the cost of the whole Artemis mission at $28bn.

It would be the first time people have walked on the moon since the last Apollo moon mission in 1972.

Just 12 people have walked on the moon – all men.

NASA flew six manned missions to the surface of the moon, beginning with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in July 1969, up to Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt in December 1972.

Koch will be the first woman astronaut ever on a lunar mission, while Glover is the first Black astronaut.